ACT 8: BIOHAZARD Umbrella Rekindled
by noctorro
Summary: Sequel to "World of the Undead." Six years after Raccoon, the presidents daughter is kidnapped. Leon S. Kennedy is sent on a rescue mission. Krauser attempts to reform the Umbrella Corporation and they haven't forgotten about Kenny ...
1. Prologue: Call To Action

The window of the dormitory was wide open, letting a fresh night breeze blow through the hot, stuffy room. Tonight was supposed to be a night of studying, cramming for the upcoming final exam week. But late spring heat would not let Kenny sleep. He sat at the window sill, letting the fresh breeze blow at his face, sending his dark hair into waves on his head. He glanced at the clock on the wall, and it read 4:43 am. He was supposed to have finished studying two hours ago, and been in bed an hour ago. Yet after all the tossing and turning, his body had decided for him that sleep was not an option. Was he nervous about the exams? That couldn't have been it. He'd gotten a 3.94 GPA in the previous semester. And during all this classes this semester, he'd practically slept through all the lectures and still maintained a respectable mark on all assignments and tests.

Kenny was honest with himself. It had been six years since he'd had a decent good night sleep. Six years ago … we was a mere fifteen year old teenager back then living in the suburbs of Raccoon City, U.S.A. And it wasn't like anyone needed an explanation as to why he hadn't been able to sleep since then. Everyone who wasn't living under a rock knew what happened to that city. Those murders occurring on the outskirts of town, people eating each other up, rumors of a cannibal cult … the stories had gotten stranger and stranger with every passing day. Until finally, the reality came to the center of town. There was no satanic cult, no crazy people sacrificing each other to some unknown god. It was a virus. A virus that turned people into the walking dead. Zombies.

That's what they were. Shuffling along the streets, moaning in some unholy manner with their arms outstretched in front of them looking for their next warm meal. Nobody had believed Kenny's story. The official government statement was that the Umbrella Corporation, responsible for running the city had accidentally unleashed a virus that engulfed the mid-Western town. But that was only the half truth. Nobody mentioned the zombies. And as a result, the American people hadn't an inkling of what it was like to survive that hellhole. And nobody believed Kenny.

Kenny's mind was wandering, he knew it. But what else could it do, given the intense head of the night, with the comfort of the cool breeze blowing into his room? Every so often, his mind would take him back to the days of Raccoon, and the three months that followed thereafter. The three months that he'd spent in isolation in one of Umbrella's island bases situated off the coast of South America. There, the company behind the virus spill trained him to be one of their own. Kenny had convinced himself that he was just undercover for the defunct Raccoon City S.T.A.R.S. unit, getting inside information on Umbrella. But his services had proven to be useless, given that the corporation had already begun its decline in the stock market.

After being rescued from the island by ex-S.T.A.R.S. member Chris Redfield, Kenny promised to return to a life of solitude, to return to school, get an education, and prepare for a bright future ahead of him. He tried and had succeeded, somewhat. The nightmares still haunted him.

Kenny wanted to forget, but he knew it was useless trying. The more he attempted to shove the memories from his mind, the more they insisted on staying. The best way, he figured, was to just let life happen to him and perhaps one day, he could forget it all. But now wasn't the time, not especially since he was reflecting on everything that had happened to him six years ago. It was time to take a walk.

He left his room and headed down the hall, descended the two flights of stairs that took him to the dormitory lobby and headed out the twin glass doors and into the night. The breeze was slightly stronger out here. He could already feel the thin coat of sweat on his body vaporize into the dry air. The pathway outside the building led into a nearby park and on the other side was the main University building. Security was pretty tight around the main building and he thought better of it than to take a walk on the campus grounds. So he stuck to the park around his building.

The sun was getting ready to come up on the horizon. The sky was light blue towards the east, and still pitch black to the west. A few faint stars could still be seen, but they would vanish into the sky within a few hours for another day.

A movement on the road across the park crossed his eye. The street lights were reflecting off a smooth black surface. It was hard to figure out what it was in the darkness at first. What had made it so suspicious was the lack of sound that it produced. Squinting into the night, Kenny could barely make out the shape of a limousine. It was traveling slowly with all of its fancy lights shut off. There was definitely something strange about it. Anyone traveling in a limousine around these parts would be proud of that fact. The lights would be turned on and its occupants would be hanging their heads out the window drunk and shit faced as hell. But there was none of that. Just a black limousine stalking the streets and some insane hour in the morning.

The vehicle came to a full and complete stop and its doors exploded open, spilling for a group of men – at least that's what they looked like from this kind of distance in the poor lighting. The men fanned out over the streets and began heading towards the dormitories. As they got closer, Kenny could see that every one of them toted a mean looking automatic rifle in their hands. Now he was really spooked. Turning around on his heels, the young man headed back into his dorm as fast as his feet could carry him without making too much noise. Thankfully, he hadn't wandered far from the entrance and was safely back inside within a good chunk of a minute.

Kenny dashed up the stairs, his heart threatening to beat its way out of his chest. The sweat that he'd gotten rid of by walking outside reformed on his body, this time from fear instead of the heat. He opened the door to his room and slammed it shut behind him, locking it. Those men were infiltrating the dorms. Were they after someone? Were they planning on taking the students hostage? There was little he could to at this point to warn his fellow students, so Kenny stuck a chair under the knob of the door and threw himself to the floor, crawling under his bed and waited from the approaching footsteps.

For a few moments, all he could hear was the beating of his own heart and the sounds of his breath. But then, the footsteps approached, walking quickly but quietly down the halls. He expected to hear the bashing down of doors and screaming students. But there was none of that. Instead, his phone had rung, causing him to jump in surprise, hitting his head on the bottom of the bed as a result.

"What a fucking great time to call!" Kenny whispered to himself. It was not even five in the morning and someone was calling him! Better yet, there were mysterious men outside his room with automatic rifles! Kenny seized the receiver and whispered harshly into it.

"Hello?" he was ready to give the caller a piece of his mind when his blood ran cold.

"Did we surprise you, Kenny?" the caller asked.

"Who … who is this?" he asked.

The voice on the other end was cold, calm, and strangely familiar. "I'm surprised you don't recognize me, after all we've been through together."

"Quit the answering questions with questions shit," Kenny said. "There's some freaks outside my dorm room right now and if you've got the answers to what's going on, I want to know right now."

"You still belong to Umbrella, my boy." The words seized Kenny's breath, stopped his heart from beating, froze time for a moment. Umbrella … "I take it that's a name you haven't heard from for awhile?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't play that innocent bullshit with me. You don't think I know who you are?"

"Wesker?"

"Very good, boy. I'm touched that you'd remember me."

"What the hell are you still doing around here? Umbrella's gone. Haven't you heard the news?"

"Oh so is that what you attribute me to?" Wesker asked, letting out a laugh. "Umbrella? There are far greater things going on here than Umbrella. And I want you to witness it first hand."

"No, no, Wesker. I don't want it. I don't want to have anything to do with whatever you're planning."

"There's something I think you'll find of great interest brewing in Europe," Wesker continued, ignoring Kenny's pleas. "And I want you to go there and check it out."

"Who the hell do you think you are, ordering me around like this?"

"Because I know you'll do as I say, especially if it's for the life of a dear friend. Ashley Graham, the president's daughter."

Kenny was speechless. He and Ashley had been well acquainted since the days she would spend in Raccoon City on vacation. They had kept in touch all these years and coincidentally wound up at the same university together. That's why those men were here. They were Wesker's men, and they were looking for Ashley!

"Don't lay a finger on her, Wesker, I'm warning you!"

"And that's why the first thing tomorrow morning, in approximately twenty-four hours from now, you'll meet the limousine from where you just saw it parked. The rest of the details will be revealed to you then."

Without another word, Wesker hung up the phone, leaving Kenny with nothing but a dial tone. He collapsed onto his bed without even knowing it, his mind swimming with thoughts, he couldn't even begin to sort them out. What did Wesker want with him? Was it possible that this was just a lie to get him involved in something he wanted no part of? Was Ashley really in danger? How did Wesker get his number?

The only people that could comfort him at this point were those that had made it out of Raccoon City with him. Familiar but distant names flashed through his mind. Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Barry Burton, Leon Kennedy, Claire Redfield … but he was no longer in contact with any of them. He thought he'd left Wesker to them. But instead, Wesker had eluded them and come to Kenny. He decided to wait and give himself time to sort out his thoughts. Now the challenge was doing it in twenty four hours.

The next day, Kenny's worst thoughts were confirmed. Lying at the foot of his doorstep was the daily newspaper with a picture of Ashley, the blonde, all-American girl smiling on the front cover with the headlines, "President's Daughter Kidnapped," written in bold, copper black lettering.


	2. Chapter 1: A Promise Made

**Vash: **New reviewer! Thanks for taking the time to leave reviews for my chapters. To answer your question, I have no immediate plans to include Cranky in this story. Everything that's happened between Cranky and Kenny is enough to be a whole story on its own, and I don't need that complicating the established Resident Evil 4 storyline that this fic revolves around. But who knows, I'm making this up as I go along so anything is possible.

**Tyrant: **It's always nice to know that there are more people out there enjoying the stuff I pump out than other than the regular reviews. I'm happy to hear you like my previous Resident Evil story, and I hope you will enjoy this one as well. The way I saw it, it was impossible for me to not write a follow up story – RE4 was too great of a game.

**Luna: **There, I updated the very next day! Soon enough? ;)

**XXXXX**

The black limousine was waiting where Wesker said it would be – a dark, elongated form under the shade provided by a large oak tree, sheltering it and its occupants from the morning heat. The sun had just come up and it was sweltering already. Trying to conserve gas from having to leave the engine on for the air conditioning to work, Kenny guessed. Only the window from the driver's seat was rolled down, a well dressed arm hanging off the edge with a cigar placed between stubby fingers.

Kenny approached the vehicle slowly, not wanting to see who it was waiting for him, yet the urge to help Ashley pushed him on, two opposing motivational forces affecting his speed to a mere stroll. Whoever it was waiting for him inside grew impatient. They probably knew what he looked like, suspected that he was who he was. The back door to the limo flew open and out stepped a large man in a black T-shirt straining against the bulging muscles of his torso. He wore a scarlet beret on his head but the most significant feature was the giant scar across his visage, making Kenny jump back for a second upon laying eyes the man. His face was twisted into a permanent frown, Kenny noticed, as the man looked straight at him.

"Get in the car," he ordered, "we don't have much time."

Kenny reluctantly agreed, unslinging his bag from his shoulder as he got into the car. The flooring consisted of plush carpet. There were wine glasses lining the sides of the carriage and deep, comfortable seats just in front of the glass holders. Kenny found a spot on one of the sofas and sat down, wincing at the uncomfortable warmth of the material.

"Where are you taking me?" he demanded.

"We're going for a ride," the man replied. He was alone in the car other than Kenny.

"To where?"

"Spain." The word came out so quickly, so suddenly, Kenny half suspected it was a joke.

"Spain!"

"Yeah, the country? Speaky you Espanol?" the man replied.

"Who are you?"

"Call me Krauser."

"And what do you want with …"

"You never stop with the questions, do you?"

"Well when you kidnap a friend of mine, force me to come on some whirlwind world tour with you …"

"All you need to know," Krauser explained, "is that you will play one of the many key roles that will bring Umbrella back. I know who you are, Kenneth Feng. Wesker's told me everything I need to know – about your past, your history with Raccoon City, with Shadowlaw, and with Umbrella."

"Six years, I've been running from Umbrella," Kenny said shaking his head.

"And you thought you were getting somewhere." Krauser smiled. "Even though they're no longer an official corporation, do you really think the scientists would let you go so willingly?" Kenny remained silent. "I didn't think so."

"What is it you want me to do for you?"

"There are these kinds mythical creatures in Spanish folklore called the Las Plagas. Officially, there is no such thing. Officially, that is."

"So you're telling me these Plagas actually exist."

"They're from the prehistoric ages, who've remained mostly unchanged since the age of the dinosaurs. Before Umbrella went defunct, they had only recently gotten news of strange creatures haunting a remote village somewhere in Spain. The Umbrella loyalists did their homework – and discovered that the rumors are true. The Plagas might have even taken over the entire village."

"What do these things do to people?"

"They're parasites that lodge themselves to their hosts' vital organs. They tap into the spinal cord and … well … mind control people."

"So what does Umbrella want with these things?"

"Umbrella wants to harness the power of these creatures …"

"And use it to take over the world. Yes, I've heard that one before. And you're sending me in to do the dirty work for you."

"Oh you won't be alone," Krauser said, a sly smile spreading across his face. "We'll be working as a team. There is a man behind the Plagas movement. A man by the name of Saddler. I will need to earn his trust to get closer to the Plagas."

"And delivering Ashley is gonna earn you that trust."

"Wesker's right. You are a smart boy."

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that that girl has some pretty symbolic significance. She isn't just some blonde bimbo, you know!"

"And a good friend too …" Krauser added sarcastically.

"Look, just tell me what to do, and it's as good as done, okay?" Kenny said, putting his hands up, as if surrendering. "Just don't hurt Ashley."

"I need you to steal some Plagas embryos. It's a backup plan, just in case I don't get the access to the creatures I hope for."

"So I get to be the bad guy, going around and stealing these creatures, while you get to be all diplomatic?"

"I hear the Shadow Technology has no limits."

"Just shut up about the Shadow Technology!" Kenny snapped. "I know I have it and I don't want to be reminded. I'll find those samples for you. My only terms are …"

"You HAVE no terms, boy! Right now you have my word that Ashley will not be harmed. But how close I hold my word to heart… that's another issue."

**XXXXX**

The small, compact helicopter plowed through the air. The open side doors allowed a strong wind to blow into the back seating area. The journey across the continent was undertaken in a closed, cramped private airplane. The freedom of the chopper was a welcome change. Kenny sat across from Krauser, shooting a look of disgust in his direction every so often. But every time their eyes met, Krauser would smile proudly, as if he'd accomplished something though nothing had happened quite yet. They were flying over an ocean – or a large lake, it was hard to tell. Since the location of the village was classified, there was no way of telling where they were going – only the pilot and perhaps Krauser too, knew.

"Don't be so pissy," Krauser said, his deep voice breaking the silence. "I'm taking you to see your friend."

Kenny's eyes suddenly lit up. He was going to see Ashley soon! That is, if Krauser was telling the truth, and he had every reason to doubt the man. But still, the chance was there, and at least Kenny could reassure her that she would be alright. He wasn't so sure he could keep her safe, but if he could give her at least that false hope …

"That is, if your friends haven't killed her yet."

"She has yet to be delivered to Saddler. Then he'll do with her as he pleases. Just as long as I can get to those Plagas samples."

Kenny was too tired to argue. They'd spent the last twenty four hours traveling by plane, and now by helicopter. He just wanted a bed that he could sleep in and forget about everything that had developed in the last day. Funny, two days ago he was just a regular teen, living in the delusion that he'd escaped Umbrella. If he knew then what he did now, he would've packed up, nabbed Ashley himself, and gotten the hell out of that campus.

The copter landed in a small clearing in the middle of a vast forest. The trees weren't too tall here, though they were bare and crooked, their leaves covering the forest floor. The sky above was cloudy, reflecting the light off some polluted atmosphere, casting a brownish, decaying haze over the entire scene. The dead trees did nothing but amplify the lingering notion of death. Kenny's eyes scanned the immediate vicinity, looking for some kind of path that they could walk through, but there was nothing in sight. Just trees and dead leave stretching as far as the eye could see.

"This way," Krauser said, walking ahead of him. He held a small, black piece of electronic equipment in his hand, probably a compass or something. Kenny followed close behind, not being very comfortable with walking alone in the middle of a dead, foreign forest, even though his companion was a crazy Umbrella fanatic trying against all odds to reanimate the dead corporation. He got the feeling that Krauser had been here before. The man strode with confidence through the trees. Either that or he was comfortable being in threatening situations. He seemed like an experienced combat veteran. And if Kenny wasn't feeling quite right about this place, he was sure Krauser had noticed it long before.

"Do you hear that?" the man asked out of the blue.

"I don't hear anything."

"The silence … there's no life here."

"I could've told you that when we first flew over this joint."

"That's because the Ganados are close by."

"The Ganados?"

"People that have been taken over by the Plagas," Krauser replied. "We're near their village. Keep your guard up."

"And protect myself with what?"

"Oh, I almost forgot." Krauser reached into his belt and pulled out a handgun, placing it in Kenny's palms. "I trust you've got experience with these."

"I haven't touched one since Rockfort Island."

"It'll come back to you."

"What about you?" Kenny found it strange that he was asking about Krauser's well being, but he'd established earlier that it was far more favorable to be with a combat veteran in some remote, hostile forest than alone.

"I've got this," Krauser replied, flipped a combat knife in one hand, tossing it into the air and catching in by the handle without even keeping his eyes on it.

"Hah," Kenny scoffed, "so you're gonna take out a bunch of crazy possessed villagers with a combat knife. Whatever suits you."

"You have no idea what I'm like with one of these things and something to slice up. And since there's nobody here but you and me," Krauser looked straight into Kenny's eyes, "don't get too curious."

With a quick motion of his hand, the knife went sailing out of it. Instead of hearing a dull thud, where Kenny had expected the knife to embed itself into the trunk of a tree, he heard a soft, wet splat. He spun around to see a strange man, dressed in denim overalls and a tanned leather vest over a white, long sleeved shirt, clutching his face in pain – the handle of the knife sticking out of his eye socket.

"What the hell are you doing, you maniac!" Kenny cried, running over to the villager to help him. Kenny had seen virally infected people before, he'd seen the undead. And the way this man screamed in pain – his nerves were still working. He was still … still … human!

"Stop it you stupid brat!" Krauser shouted after Kenny, "he's gonna …"

But the warning came too late. The man retaliated, slicing Kenny's shoulder up with a sickle. Blood from his wound spilled out in a scarlet arc as Kenny backed away from the crazed villager. He wasn't screaming anymore, though the knife was still in his face. Instead, the man walked slowly towards him like nothing had happened.

"W…what the hell!"

"They aren't zombies, not what you're used to," Krauser explained. "Now shoot the fucker!" The handgun was still lying in Kenny's hands, cold and unused. He was never a killer, though he'd killed to survive before. And once again, he found it hard to raise the firearm at anything that even looked remotely human.

Kenny stood rooted to the spot in fear, his survival instincts not yet having fully started up. From seemingly out of thin air, Krauser pulled out a bow and strung it with a set of three arrows in one swift motion. He launched the arrows, piercing the villager in the throat, abdomen and shoulder. The man down with a thud and never got up. Kenny was seized by the collar with Krauser right in his face.

"If you wanna make it out of this alive, then you're gonna have to learn how to shoot that fucking gun! I'm not gonna be covering your ass the while time we're here!"

"Te voy aser picadillo!" someone cried from the distance, followed by an angry chorus.

"Shit, they've caught sight of us!" Krauser said. "Stand back, Kenny. I'll take care of this."

Kenny half expected him to whip out his bow and arrow and take out the whole mob of villagers approaching them from the distance. They were close enough for the smoke and light from their torches to be seen. But instead, Krauser opened up his arms, looking like he was surrendering to them or something. He began mumbling something in Spanish to the villagers.

He didn't understand a word, but whatever Krauser was saying, it worked. The angry mob, complete with pitchforks stopped in their tracks, the expressions on their faces telling him that they were considering something, probably whatever Krauser was saying.

"What are you telling them?" Kenny asked.

"Just shut up and don't move," Krauser said over his shoulder.

They stood there for a tense moment, under the scrutinizing eyes of the villagers. Kenny wasn't sure what Krauser was thinking. Whatever it was, he was good at hiding it, standing there as calm as ever. Kenny on the other hand was panicking, his mind running around in circles with only the adrenaline keeping his body completely still, ready to jump at the slightest sudden movement.

Krauser smiled as the villagers turned their backs on them and began heading back the way they came. "I don't believe this, they're leaving us," Kenny whispered.

"That's because I told them who I was," Krauser replied with his trademark smirk.

"What the hell difference does it make to them?"

"They're smart. They know I was the one who brought Ashley to them, and therefore under the direct protection of their Lord Saddler himself."

"You've already brought her to him!" Kenny asked. "I thought you still had to deliver her."

"Correction," Krauser said, jabbing a finger into the air, "I said I was taking you to see her. That doesn't mean she hasn't been taken to Saddler already. How else do you think I already have such seniority over these dirty villagers?"

"Is Ashley in their village?"

Krauser nodded. "We're to deliver her to the church for protection."

"Protection against what?"

"The President's already sent an agent to rescue her. They're trying to keep it under wraps so that nobody gets wind of the news. But not under my watch. If you see any suspicious characters …"

"I'm in a Spanish village with people possessed by prehistoric parasites. Suspicious characters are running rampant."

Krauser rolled his eyes. "If you see any damn Americans toting guns and acting all covert-ops, kill them on site. I don't care who they are. Do I have your word?"

"I told you, I'm not a …"

"Don't forget about Ashley."

"Fine. You have my word. Any other American I see other than you dies by my hand."


	3. Chapter 2: Lady in Red

**Ash:** Thank you for taking the time to read my story, and I'm very happy to hear that you've enjoyed the last one! I promise to make this one better than its prequel by including more action scenes, and by more warping of the Resident Evil storyline, viewed from the eyes of my main character.

**Jano** Hey! Great to hear from you again! To answer your question, Kenny does not take Ada's place in this story as you will find out later in this chapter. Through Wesker's eyes, Kenny plays the same function as Ada does in this mission, but he's got his own things going on for him apart from her.

**E-Z B:** Just so you know, this story (like my last one) will contain spoilers for Resident Evil 4. I hate to discourage you from reading this story, but if you want to find out more about RE4 by playing the game, then do NOT read this fic!

**Flamestrike** Good to see you! Thanks for keeping up with my RE series, although I'm pretty sure they end with this story, haha. Actually, when I finished off the last story, I had already decided to do a sequel but I was really busy at the time and I wasn't sure if I was gonna get around to doing it. But after playing RE4, I had so many ideas on how Kenny could fit it that it was hard to contain it all. So I kept it in for as long as possible and then I finally burst … and … well … THIS happened.

Ashley was stored in one of the many run down houses that made up the village. The ground was dirt, the furniture looked as if it had been hastily assembled from splintered wood planks. The fabric that encased the sofa and seat cushions were heavily soiled - whether with human waste, dirt or blood, Kenny did not want to know. The picture of the entire village consisted of varying shades of brown - objects of any other color stuck out like a sore thumb. So that was how he easily spotted Ashley in her bright green skirt, knee high boots, yellow shaul and bright blonde hair.

She was tied down onto one of the filthy beds on the second floor of the house. Her face was coated in sweat, strands of her hair sticking to her forehead and cheeks. Krauser had led Kenny to his house, fulfilling his promise of taking Kenny to see his friend. He'd led the way up the stairs. Ashley began struggling once she heard Krauser's heavy footsteps and began struggling on the bed but the knots connecting each of her limbs to a bed post were too well tied.

"Hey darlin," Krauser said, addressing her, "your Prince Charming's here to see you." Kenny reached the top of the stairs and turned the corner, Ashley's widened eyes confirming their eye contact.

"Oh my God, Kenny!" she cried. Her arms moved, but the ropes held her in place. The skin around her wrists was red, dried and peeling.

"Ashley!" Kenny replied, running to her side. A few feet away, at the top of the stairs, Krauser stood leaning against the wall, his arms folded tightly across his chest, a deep frown etched across his scarred face as he watched the two, wanting for this sappy moment to be over with.

"Are you alright? They didn't hurt you, did they?"

Ashley shook her head. "I'm okay," she replied through her dry, cracked lips. "Just a little scared. What are you doing here, Kenny? Are they holding you hostage too?"

"Ash ..." Kenny didn't know where to start explaining. How could he tell her that he was fighting alongside the bad guys, helping them achieve their mission? "I told you everything that had happened to me back at Raccoon, didn't I?"

"Oh no," she said, her mouth gaping open. "It ... it's true ... and I didn't believe you." She inched away from him, as far as she could, as far as her bindings would let her.

"Please don't," Kenny begged. "I'm not here to hurt you."

"No, but you're a part of this whole plot. Why, Kenny? We've been friends for so long and I know you. Why have you decided to do this?"

"Do you think this is my decision!" Kenny asked, the anger rising in his voice. "They brought me here on account of your safety. I'm doing this to protect you, Ash! They said if I didn't co-operate ..."

"You shouldn't have come. They want to kill me anyway, regardless of what anyone does. You're only putting yourself in danger by coming ..."

"Don't give me that," Kenny snapped. "You're the president's daughter. Do you think they're gonna slaughter you off like some common bug in their way? Even if they plan to kill you, you're not in certain danger quite yet. And I'm gonna do everything I can to keep it this way for as long as possible, until someone more capable can come and get you out of here."

"And he's fine with that?" Ashley asked, cocking her chin in Krauser's direction.

"He's got no choice. If he wants me helping him, then he'll need to deal with what I've got planned. It's a give and take."

"You're messing with dangerous people, Kenny. You better watch your back."

"I'm important to them - they would never let anything happen to me."

"Where do you fall in their ranks? Is there something you're not telling me?"

"Just ... trust me."

"Alright, kids," Krauser said, interrupting the conversation. "It's time to get to work."

Ashley looked fearfully at Kenny. "It's alright," he explained. "We just have to move you to the church."

"Why? Please don't let them do this." Her eyes were watering over. "I ... I'm scared!"

"Don't be, Ash. I know I can't get you out of here, I'm just here to ensure your safety. You'll be okay as long as I'm here."

**XXXXX**

The church was quite distant from the village – not too far to drive, but not exactly a cakewalk either. Krauser and Kenny, with Ashley in tow, passed large settlements of houses – each one equally or more drab than the one before it. The hygiene level of each sector of the village remained a sickening constant though. Kenny hand found it difficult to breathe. The villagers continuing their work like ordinary citizens, piling hay, feeding their animals, speaking to each other and having a jolly time – nothing that would've hinted that they were possessed by some prehistoric parasite. The threesome got a few dirty looks, but nothing to suggest the villagers were empty human vessels for something far more deadly.

They were not zombies. Zombies did not live in communities, didn't do chores or care for their pets. They seemed like ordinary people, save for the fact that they were oblivious to pain. Kenny realized that he would never want to be caught in a fight for his life against these people. They were smart, co-operated with each other in the heat of battle. He hadn't exactly participated in a battle against them, but the run-in with that one villager back when they first got there was enough – how practically the entire village followed soon after his death to destroy the intruder. Had it not been for Krauser's excellent command of the Spanish language, and his ability to convince them of who they were, they might not have made it out of that initial scuttle alive.

Krauser led the way a few feet ahead of where they walked. Kenny stuck close to Ashley, trying to calm her fears with his familiar face, and from the fear of being attacked if he wandered too far from either of them. Umbrella might not have let anything happen to him, but they weren't dealing with Umbrella this time. Just some crazed leader of the Plagas infestation by the name of Saddler.

"I can't believe you're doing this," Ashley said, shaking her head. The fear from her voice was gone. It was her brain talking now, not pumped up with adrenaline like before. At least his presence was able to comfort her that much. "I don't know whether to slap you or be scared of you."

"You can slap me if you like," Kenny replied, smiling. "I would've done the same if I wasn't such a wuss."

"No, I mean, I appreciate you coming here on my accord," Ashley walked a little closer, comforted by the fact that in the midst of all this chaos in this foreign countryside with hostile locals, he was there with her. A familiar face on a distant continent with possessed locals. "But … you're also working for the bad guys. I just … don't know about you."

Kenny shrugged. "I'm not sure I'd know what to think if I were in your shoes either. As long as you know that I'm not here to hurt you, then I'm happy."

"But there's so much more to it than that. Yeah, you might not hurt me personally, but think of what you're contributing to!"

"Do you even know what I'm contributing to? Cause I sure as hell don't. Perhaps you can tell me, because all I know is that I'm here because I don't want you getting hurt!"

Ashley kept quiet, realizing that perhaps she was being too judgmental. "Do you think my father sent some kind of a rescue squad for me?" she asked, changing the subject.

Kenny found himself stumbling with his words. They'd sent somebody, all right. And he promised Krauser that if he ran into the agent, Kenny would kill Ashley's potential hero. That is, if the agent didn't kill Kenny first. He had no idea what kind of people had been sent after Ashley, but it was more than likely that they'd be able to take Kenny out, even from a distance. Kenny wasn't a fighter – he was a university student trying to build a future for himself. Umbrella must've had a lot of confidence in him to be relying on him enough to drag him so deep into this mess. Or maybe they were relying more so on Krauser.

"W…well, maybe," he sputtered. "I mean, you're important so, I don't see why not."

"They'd better have sent a whole squad," Ashley said, looking behind her at the group of houses they just passed. "One man can't exactly hold his own against a mob of villagers with torches and pitchforks, gun or no gun."

"Unless they had a machine gun," Kenny offered.

"You know, if I actually believed you when you first told me about all the shit that happened in Raccoon City, I would've been more aware of the kind of people out there. It's just that I've always lived a sheltered life under Daddy's protection that I never even fathomed that anything could happen to me. I mean, if the Umbrella corporation had the ability to destroy an entire town and keep their tracks covered, I would've known who to watch for."

"And you would've stopped all contact with me," Kenny said. "God knows, they probably think I'm a suspect now. The police, I mean. It's kinda weird, don't you think? Two people go missing – one with a solid connection with Umbrella and the other the daughter of the president?"

"Is it on your record that you actually have a high position in Umbrella's hierarchy?"

"I've tried to deny to myself, since the company went defunct. But such a huge factor can't be denied. I'd say it's on my record – though they having nothing to charge me with."

"Well you were part of an organization that eliminated an entire city …"

"I had nothing to do with those plans. Hell, they would've eliminated me too, if I hadn't gotten lucky and escaped. I think that fact destroys any case they could possibly build against me. Is there something wrong?" Ashley was beginning to shy away from him, like she wanted him to keep his distance.

"No … I'm just … confused."

"About what?"

"About you."

Kenny looked startled. "You damn women and your mood swings. You're thankful I'm here, but '_noooo … I don't know if I can trust you! Oh look at me playing hard to get!_' And the next moment you're moving closer to me because everything about this foreign place scares you and the next thing you know, it's '_oh_ _maybe I'm too close, I should just run away and pretend I don't trust you!_' Just make up your goddamn mind and stick to it for Christ sakes." Kenny exaggerated Ashley's behavior, making it look more ridiculous and comical than it actually was – something that she didn't take kindly to. So she tried the blunt approach.

"I just can't decide whether to trust you or not. Or, maybe I do, but there's that question of whether I should. You come here and try to comfort me, yet you're defending yourself against my suspicions like I'm hitting a nerve."

"I got dragged here because of you. If I really didn't care about your well being, I would've stayed back at the University and let them do what they want to you. Now why don't you stick that in your over-paranoid pipe and smoke it?" Kenny's language was harsh, but his tone wasn't. Ashley took both into consideration and began walking closer to him again. Whether it was because she trusted him or that he was familiar to her, Ashley didn't know. At that point, all she understood was that it just felt right.

**XXXXX**

It was a nice church. That was the thought that crossed both Ashley and Kenny's mind when they entered the building. It was small, with two rows of pews made with fine lacquered wood , one on either side of the structure. A balcony built along the perimeter of the walls served as a second level. The getup looked to be Catholic influenced, complete with an altar and an elevated platform towards the back of the building. The candles were lit, most likely recently, preparing for Ashley's arrival. The only thing separating this from a proper Catholic church was the strange symbol above the platform, where the statue of a crucified Jesus would usually be situated, made out of three individual spotlights coming together to form it.

"What do you think, kids?" Krauser asked, taking a deep breath. "This is really something, isn't it?"

"Looks like a cult church to me," Ashley replied.

"Well, get used to it. You're gonna be here for awhile, before Lord Saddler's ready to receive you."

"What's he planning on doing to me?"

Krauser shrugged. "I don't know, and I don't care. Just as long as giving you to him as a present will let me get to those Plagas samples, he can do whatever he wants with you."

"Hey, I thought I was getting the samples," Kenny said.

"You're just the backup."

"I'm already on it," a fourth voice piped up, echoing off the walls in the hollow space of the church.

It was a woman standing in front of the projected symbol was, casting a shadow on the wall behind her. She had short black hair, a sexy, sultry voice dressed in a red, sleeveless Chinese gown that reached down to her ankles with one slit running up the fabric to reveal her shapely thighs.

"The bitch in the red dress," Krauser spat out. "What are you doing here?"

"Wesker sent me," she replied calmly, "to watch over you. And … gosh, Kenny. Is that really you? You've finally hit puberty." The woman looked amused but Kenny took her comment as a taunt.

"Ada …" he said bitterly, "I hoped you died in that car crash six years ago."

"Takes a lot more than that to scratch me, junior," she retaliated. "And who's that lovely girl holding so tightly on to your arm?" Ashley was caught and released her grip on Kenny immediately out of embarrassment. "You must be Ashley Graham, the president's daughter. Trust me, girl, he's about the most incapable as they get. I had to cover his ass back at Raccoon."

"Hey, why don't you …" Kenny began, but Krauser had cut him off.

"What do you want, Ada?"

"I take it there's no love lost between you two," Ashley whispered to Kenny.

"I'm here to cover Kenny's butt … again – to help him retrieve the Plagas samples. Clearly, Krauser, Wesker didn't trust you to get the job done by yourself." It was a low blow on Krauser's ego.

"And maybe when I outlive both of you on this mission, Wesker will finally know whose abilities to trust."

"You don't have my experience," Ada said, narrowing her eyes at him. "Now get the girl up here. We've got a room reserved just for her."

Krauser and Kenny led Ashley to the side of the church, where a metal ladder led up to the balcony. There was a wooden door at the very top, to their left. Krauser grabbed the metal handle and twisted, opening it inward to a small store room with wooden barrels and small shelving units lining the sides. "It's not the Hyatt, that's for sure," he said. "But you'd be better of making the best of it. You're gonna be in here for awhile, I'd say."

Kenny began to lead Ashley in when she looked at him, pleading with her eyes.

"It's for your safety," he said, unsure if he was telling her the right thing. Though she could see the insecurity in his eyes, Ashley decided it was better off that way.

After they had secured the President's daughter in her makeshift cell, Kenny, Ada and Krauser descended the ladder and began heading out of the church. Kenny didn't feel particularly comfortable leaving his friend by herself, but at least it was a church. There was something always peaceful, safe and forgiving about such establishments, whether or not they belonged to a crazed cult. When the three had gone outside the front entrance, they were standing at the back of a vast graveyard that led down the hill the church was situated upon. Krauser began to head off, leaving Kenny and Ada to reminisce about old times.

"Where do you think you're going?" Ada asked him.

"To see Lord Saddler," he replied. "You two stay here and wait for the American to arrive. I want you scouting the entire village him, and shoot him on sight. Although, the villagers should have no problem dealing with him first."

"So the agent is already here?" Kenny asked Ada. She smiled back at him, another attempt at a taunt, but instead, Kenny saw elation in her eyes – a tiny sparkle in those dark, narrow eyes.

"Oh yes he is," she replied. "And I've been waiting for too long."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Kenny asked, heading back towards the village.

Behind him, the elated smile never left Ada's face as she spoke softly, her words too quiet to be heard by Kenny's ears as he walked away. "Six years, Leon … you don't know what that kind of torture that can do to a woman's heart."


	4. Chapter 3: Closer

The trip back to the village was uneventful. Nothing but bare tree trunks and dead leaves passed them by. Kenny guessed they arrived sometime in the afternoon because it was definitely the evening now, as a cool breeze blew through the forest, sending wave after wave of shivers down his spine. Krauser hadn't bothered to give him any special equipment to survive in this village. Was Kenny expected to join the villagers at the dinner table? No thank you. But how else was he going to find something to eat?

"You got any grub?" he asked Ada, who walked a few paces in front of him. Even after six years, the woman was icy as ever. That red gown she was adorned in didn't look like it could keep the cold out, especially with that slit running down one side and the whole sleeveless thing it had going on. But as far as Kenny could tell, there was not a goose bump on her body.

"Just emergency rations," she replied, reaching into a pouch strapped onto her waist. She tossed it to Kenny who fumbled for the food.

"Fruit leather?" he asked, trying to read the label in the fading light.

"It's healthy."

"It tastes like shit."

"Would you rather be eating with the villagers?"

"God,they _eat_ shit."

Ada picked up the pace, started walking back to the village faster. Kenny had to jog to keep up. She was moving a little too quickly for him, in high heels, nonetheless. She was a bitch, but she was talented at least in this respect.

Kenny's mind drifted to himself. He was decked out in what he'd left his dormitory with – blue jeans, a black T-shirt and a yellow baseball cap. Nothing about him would've told anyone that he'd been chosen for some top-secret illegal mission in a remote Spanish village. In fact, he couldn't exactly tell himself.

"If you can't figure out why, then it's probably the Shadow Technology." That was his motto, developed in the later years of his life. It was this technology that had gotten him in trouble countless times in the past – with the crime syndicate Shadowlaw back in Japan, and the Umbrella Corporation in the United States. Kenny hadn't an inkling of the technology's existence within his body until Ada approached him, just after the destruction of Raccoon City, claiming that the technology was the property of Umbrella, and that she was planning to steal it from them – which meant kidnapping Kenny. It was difficult for a fifteen year old to understand back then. All he wanted was to keep Chris and the others safe. And he knew that Ada's employer, and Kenny's ex-boss, Captain Wesker, had a bone to pick with Chris. So he went along with Ada if she promised to keep her mouth shut about Chris's whereabouts. The car crashed shortly thereafter and Kenny was seized by Umbrella. He hadn't seen Ada since. He didn't even know if she was alive.

Well his question was answered now as she walked briskly ahead of him. Kenny found himself slowing down and started jogging again to catch up.

"Why are you in such a hurry to get back to the village?" he asked. Ada gave him a look of surprise, like she hadn't expected him to notice. "Oh come on, it's not hard to see that there's something there you wanna get at. Are the Plagas samples there?"

She rolled her eyes. "The Plagas samples are on the island," she replied. "Didn't Krauser tell you anything about this mission?"

"No, but probably cause he's got his own part to play. You're the one covering my ass again, remember?" he asked, using Ada's own words against her. "If anything, informing me about the samples and how I should retrieve them is your responsibility. Secondly, if the retrieval of the samples is our goal, and they are stored on the island, what the hell are we doing here!"

"We'll take care of the American," Ada replied sadly. "Make sure he doesn't get near Ashley." Her words were hollow, as she if was just regurgitating someone else's words.

"Well don't sound so down about it," Kenny said. "I'm not too gung ho about killing anyone either. But I've had to kill people in the past to survive and if this is what it's gonna take to get me and Ashley out of here safe, then I have no other choice."

"Do you have any idea of who you're dealing with?" Ada shot. "This is no ordinary US agent, Kenny. It's …"

Gunshot could be heard not too far away, cutting Ada off.

"Is that him?" Kenny asked.

"Stay here," Ada said, ignoring his question. "I'm gonna go help him …"

Kenny just stood there in utter confusion. Ada was technically his superior in this mission, and he was just the grunt. Krauser's orders were to kill the US agent. Ada should have been assisting Kenny in that. Yet … the way had this urgency to help him – the words came from her mouth like they'd been suppressed for so long, like she was thinking out loud, not sure if she was saying what she was.

Then it clicked. Technically, Ada was on Krauser's side, what but kind of a bitch would she be if she didn't have alternate plans? He'd seen this in the movies a million times. The sexy female antagonist falls in love with the male protagonist and starts having moral issues being the bad girl when the hero convinces her that she has a good heart. But the question was, who was this hero that Ada had fallen in love with?

**XXXXX**

Kenny found himself back at the village square, the smell of burning human flesh had led him there. Normally, he'd have turn around and run the opposite direction but the smell, the concern that it could  
be any the US agent or even Ada drew him. He didn't like Ada, but she was HIS familiar face in these parts. She'd help him escape Raccoon City, and he somehow felt that she would be able to do the  
same here, God willing. She was his only hope, much in the same way that he was Ashley's. Krauser was capable enough to survive this mission, Kenny was sure, but he'd just met Krauser and he didn't  
exactly come across as a nice guy. At least Ada had more of a chance of having a heart. He didn't like the idea of having to rely on someone to get him and Ashley out of this place, but he'd do  
whatever it took to make it out alive. And whoever the agent was, perhaps Kenny could strike a deal with him. After all, the both of them were after the same thing - Ashley's safety.

He wandered throgh the village square - alone this time. Ada had run off ahead somewhere after hearing the gunshots. Kenny tried to run after her but she was too quick. The villagers were carrying about  
their business, looking like regular people with simple lives. How in the world these people could belong to some strange cult, he didn't know and he wasn't going to get into it either. They left him well alone and he was going to do the same.

Kenny was comforted by the fact that he wasn't in any immediate danger until he saw just what was burning. In the middle of the village square was a human corpse, tied to a wooden pole sticking  
high into the air. Just under his feet was a pile of dry wood completely immersed in flames. Tongues of the fire licked upwards and engulfed his body - the flesh on his legs completely burned off. But his upper body was in the process of burning and his face still somewhat recognizable. Judging by the clothes this man wore, he was most likely an outsider, if not to Spain, then to the village at least. Judging by the welcome commitee he and Krauser encountered earlier that day, it was obvious that this village did not welcome outsiders. And this burning corpse was proof.

Further down the road, towards the entrance of the village, Kenny spotted the dead body of a villager lying there, face down in the dirt. Further down the road lay another, and a third even further down. Someone was here killing off these people. Kenny approached he closest body, examining the damage. He flipped over the corpse and her eyes, a pair of twin crystal blue orbs stared up blankly at the sky, giving him a jump. It was a woman! Someone would dare shoot a defenseless woman! Then he saw a wicked looking sickle embedded in the dirt just a few feet from where she lay. Ok, so maybe not so defenseless.

There was only one person who could've done this. The agent. If he was ruthless enough to kill a woman, there was no question that' he'd have no problem killing Kenny either. What had he gotten pulled into? Kenny's mind panicked and for a brief moment, he felt like that fifteen year old trapped in a city infested with zombies and other creatures that God himself could not have made.  
"Keep it together," he told himself. "You're twenty-one now. You have a handgun and you know how to use it?" But common sense told him that a university student armed with a handgun couldn't hold a finger to a specially trained agent with a combat knife. It would be better for him to stick to gathering the Plagas samples and letting Ada handle the agent. Suddenly he was glad that he hadn't run after her.

Kenny headed down the dirt path towards the entrance of the village where he passed a single dilapidated house. He came to a complete stop at the edge of a small canyon that stretched a few hundred feet down where a river ran at the very bottom. And it was way down there that he spotted the wreckage of a car. It was a burning mass of twisted metal, charred beyond recognition. He couldn't tell the model of the car, or if there were any occupants burning to death right now. If there was, there was nothing he could do for them anyway.

A few distant shouts caught his attention towards the left. Turning his head, he saw a group of villagers heading up towards where he stood, leading a foreign looking man with his arms tied behind his back. The foreigner looked terrified, his eyes wide with horror, the sweat running down his face. He was rambling on in Spanish to his captors but none of them paid him any attention. They just glared menacingly, though not making a move to nab Kenny.

The foreigner looked at Kenny and began pleading for his life - in English this time. "Hey, amigo. You gotta help me out, man. These guys are crazy."

"Who are you?" Kenny asked. "Why in the world would they want to take you hostage?"

"Don't ask me, man," the man replied. "I have no idea what's going on. We're just responsible for escorting the American agent here."

The first emotion Kenny registered was anger. This man had brought the US agent to the village. He had brought the man that would probably end Kenny's life, if he chose to continue his alliance with Krauser. But with Ashley's life on the line, how could he betray that alliance? Kenny wondered if he could trust the agent to keep her safe while Kenny made his exit – IF Kenny was given such an opportunity either by the agent, Ada, or Krauser. There was only one way to find out what his chances were. He had to find this American agent.

"What are they planning on doing to you?" Kenny asked, following the group back towards the village, although he had a pretty good idea. Either torture the information out of him, or burn him alive like the other guy back at the village's central square.

"What, you think these guys will talk to me?"

"Well I'm not too fluent in Spanish!"

"Listen, buddy, you're the only one that can get me out of this mess right now. Just kick in one of their faces and we'll make a break for it."

Kenny shook his head regretfully. "I'm sorry, I can't. I've got my hands tied too. They're keeping a friend of mine hostage. If I do anything to go against their plan, they'll kill her."

"So you're letting them kill me instead!" the man screamed. "Shit … you're no better than the rest of these freaks!"

"I … I'm really … sorry," Kenny said, softer this time. His conscience spoke up from the back of his mind. This was wrong, he knew it. But one person would die either way. Hell, Ashley, this man and even Kenny himself could die anyway, no matter what he did!

"Yeah, you tell that to my wife and kids. You let them know that you just stood there and watched, letting their father go off to slaughter."

"You don't fucking think I've got my own loved ones to worry about!" he shouted. The villagers were getting a little edgy. They couldn't understand what was being exchanged, but the energy was high enough to notice something was awry. "Look man, you don't seem to get it. I want to help you but there's nothing I can do. Maybe the agent will save you too …"

"May the Lord have mercy on your soul," the man said softly as the villagers continued to lead him farther into their town. Kenny remained behind, looking guiltily at the dirt ground.

**XXXXX**

"Leon's in here," Ada said as she squatted on the roof of the house. This building was more majestic compared to the other shacks that made up the village. It was also secluded from the other houses, separated by a thick growth of vegetation, though visible through all the bare branches. She skulked on the rooftop like a feline, making sure that she didn't make too much noise as she listened to the agent's footsteps from within the house.

Judging from how much more elaborate this building was, and how secluded it was from the others, it could've only meant that someone important must live here. The footsteps were joined by a set of heavier ones. The village chief was here, no question about it. Ada had seen him before. A big tall man with a gleaming bald head and age spots speckled over his scalp. He had a large thick beard and was dressed in a huge navy blue trench coat. Ada hoped she would never have a confrontation with this village chief but now it seemed inevitable. Leon was in that house and the chief was coming after him. If he dared lay a finger on Leon …

Ada had never felt this way about anyone before Leon came into her life six years ago. And she had never felt the same about anyone since then, not even her estranged boyfriend John, who'd passed away when Umbrella had released the T-Virus in one of their own labs in the Arklay Mountains, the same lab in which he worked. When Ada went into Raccoon City searching for him, right about the same time the zombie onslaught on the city had begun, she'd run into Leon. And he took care of her when she was wounded by one of Umbrella's monstrosities. He was there by her side when her one and only true love was dead – she hadn't realized that those feelings didn't die – they were being transferred over to Leon and were magnified in the process, given the kind of situation they had faced together.

Ada was wounded shortly before the two of them made their escape from Raccoon in one of the Umbrella's labs located underneath the city. It was most certain that Leon believed her to be dead. But she hadn't died. Far from it. Wesker had saved her, picking up her broken body from the bottom of the lab's shaft room. She'd been unconscious at the time and had no idea how Wesker had revived her. And he wouldn't utter a word to her about it either. The only thing he asked for in return for saving her life and she had no choice but to comply. Ada might have been a bitch, but she had her chin to hold high. She had her honor.

But the force opposing her honor was Leon. It was her love for him … was it love? There wasn't a day that had gone by without his form manifesting itself in her thoughts. Physically, she found him attractive enough, but it was the care that he'd shown her as a young, naïve police officer that had revealed the nature of his heart. He may have been more seasoned now, working as a US agent, but she hoped the old Leon that she knew was in there somewhere. And she wasn't going to find out if the village chief killed him.

Both sets of footsteps stopped just beneath where Ada lay low on the roof, her ears pricked, her head held close to the shingles. She peered her head just over the edge of the roof, thanking her lucky stars that there was a window she could burst through, if Leon needed her help. Suddenly, she heard a grunt, weakened by the thickness of the walls. Someone was struggling in there.

Sliding a hook shot from a strap around her thigh about the size of a handgun, she released the hook upwards as it wrapped itself around a thick tree branch. Ada let herself fall down to the level of the window, grasping onto the handle for dear life. With her other hand, she extracted a handgun from a similar holster on the opposite thigh – and mentally thanked the creator of slit dresses – aimed, and fired.

The bullet pierced the window right into the broad shoulders of the village chief. It was definitely him alright, with the blue trench coat. No blood spurted from where the bullets entered his body. Somehow, Ada wasn't surprised at this. He reacted to the bullets as if they were a mere irritant, turning around to see who had shot him. Ada's eyes darted around the room to see if she could spot Leon, but her combat instincts returned her attention to the village chief, who now made eye contact with her – a look of hatred carved upon his visage. Panicking, Ada triggered the hook shot, pulling her upwards at rapid speeds, just narrowly missing the chief, who had used his huge form to smash through the window towards her.

She landed softly on the roof, just in time for Leon to approach the window where she was mere moments before. Ada wasn't ready to face Leon yet, not after so long. She hadn't even figured out what she would say to him. Leon, as most boys were, was oblivious to her feelings. She enjoyed toying around with him, and she knew he was aware of that. But he didn't know how he felt about her. Right now, Ada's heart was pumping in her chest at the prospect of even being within a few feet of him. And if he knew that, she would lose the control she already had over the guy.

"A lady in red …" Leon mumbled to himself, still by the window sill. "Somehow, so familiar …"

Ada remained where she lay as Leon looked out into the horizon, oblivious to the fact that she was no more than four feet above him separated by a thin layer of roofing. She just smiled. It was good to hear his voice again.


	5. Interlude: Impending Storm

**Shadow Megaman:** Hey, I was starting to wonder where you disappeared off to! Good to see you back. Thanks for taking the time to read this story. And you can bet I'll be keeping an eye on your new one as well. And just so its down in permanent writing, YES, I give you permission to use Kenny for your next story. I am most honored.

**Syco** More indentification for Kenny? Man, I'd hate to direct you to the first RE fic. But that's okay. I'll try and include more in him in this story as well. Can't have a sequel without any further developments after all.

**Jano** To answer your question – yes I will be making ever so slight alterations to the RE4 in-game events, just in a little effort to squeeze Kenny in. So no, I won't be changing the storyline, and I won't even be changing any of the significant events. Just tweaking them a little. And Kenny does not know about Ada and Leon's relationship that formed in RE2. Leon and Ada spent their time in that game together for a lot of it, and Kenny spent the duration of that game escaping with Billy. Kenny only ran into Ada and Leon on brief occasions during the game, and once or twice after RE2 ended – not sure how well you remember the events from the first fic.

**Vash** Of course Leon's gonna be pissed to find out Kenny's working for Umbrella again! Wouldn't you be? I tried to fit him in differently somehow, but any other way would seem like I'm forcing Kenny into the RE4 storyline. And if anything, I don't want him to appear forced in. Like Claire, Chris or Jill. If they ever made an appearance, I'd be thinking "that's nice, but what they hell do they have to do with this new threat?" Cause really, Claire's only goal was to find Chris – which was accomplished in RECVX. And Jill and Chris wanted to take down Umbrella – and the company's gone. Which leaves Leon, an American government agent, and there's plenty of adventures left for him.

**Ash:** The whole reason I decided to make Ada sound like a lovesick girl (and probably a stalker too, I guess) is because in the RE games, all we ever see of her is this mysterious, sultry woman and we don't know much about her feelings towards Leon other than how we see her treat him. So I wanted to give Ada a face that seemed more down to earth, to show that she only appears mysterious and sexy in Leon's eyes. But from Ada's own perspective, she's just a regular woman in love.

**E-ZB:** Then don't mind if I prepare to ruin the entire storyline of Resident Evil 4 for you! Well ok, I won't ruin everything. It's such an expansive game that I can hardly remember what goes on as I write this fic. That's why I'm writing and playing at the same time, not letting this story get farther ahead of where I am in the game. I've already finished it a few times, but y'know … gotta jog that memory of mine. Gawd, I'm OLD! Oh, and Leon and Ada don't have their first confrontation until Leon reaches the castle just beyond the village. Sorry, had to ruin that much for you.

**Vammy** You know, Ada IS a bitch. But there's something about her in the video games that really draws me. She's very alluring in that mysterious, lovely, feminine, yet bitchy kinda way. I decided to accentuate on that in this story. And I'm not sure if you're familiar with the Resident Evil series, but I'm glad you got the picture regarding her character – from my eyes, anyway.

**XXXXX**

"This whole mission is bullshit," Kenny spat as he walked back towards the church. Krauser told him they wanted him to get the Plagas samples for them and here he was patrolling the village like some guard dog. It seemed plausible that they really needed him here in Europe helping Krauser with his mission but now he wasn't so sure. He was just the backup. So if Krauser didn't fail, which Kenny doubted he would, then he would have to spend the entire duration of the mission walking around this village. "Better than putting myself in danger, I guess."

He thought about staying in the village, but with this newfound freedom from his responsibilities, he thought he'd be able to spare a few hours with Ashley. Night was falling fast, only a sliver of the sun now visible from just above the horizon. The church graveyard was just ahead, a plot of land on a hill. A dirt path snaked its way around the graveyard, curving off to the right and up the hill. The church sat at the very top a cold, gray stone structure.

Kenny proceeded up the hill, wondering what he should do next. The only reason he came here was to talk to Ashley. He was telling himself that it was for her sake, to help her keep her sanity in this strange place, but he also realized that talking to her would help him too. They would talk about their feelings, share their fear, just so she could also know that he felt the same way she did. Just so that …

"Got a great selection of thing on sale, stranger!" a rough voice yelled, not even four feet from where he walked, causing Kenny to jump high into the air.

"What the FUCK!" he screeched, clutching his chest upon landing. His eyes were wide, his pulse was racing and a deep chill ran down his spine as he laid eyes on the cloaked figure standing before him. The guy had claws and that was all Kenny could see. A hooded cloak shrouded his entire body and his head. Beneath that, a tight piece of fabric was stretched across the man's nose and face, not unlike a ninja of classical Japanese history. Kenny could only make out a pair of beady eyes from underneath the hood that met his gaze.

"No need to get all antsy with me, stranger," the man said. "I'm here to help ya!" His voice was thick with an Australian accent. Now what would someone from that region be doing in these rural parts?

"H…help me with w…what?" Kenny asked, forcing himself to calm down. But his fear retorted against his efforts by causing him to stutter.

"With these …" the man replied, opening up a flap of his cloak.

"God, I don't wanna see that!" Kenny reared back, covering his face with his hands.

"What'sa matter, mate? Haven't you seen weapons before?"

Breathing a sigh of relief, Kenny let himself look. Strapped to the inside fabric of the man's coat was the largest weapons collection he'd ever seen. There were all sorts of firearms, accessories, maps, ammunition … even a few Umbrella manufactured First Aid Sprays.

"Wow," he said, reaching for the largest handgun he could see. "Can I have this?"

"Nuh-ah!" the man said, pulling his cloak shut just before Kenny' hand to reach for the gun. "These cost me money to obtain, ya know."

Kenny was bewildered. "Hey, what the hell? I need some of that to help me get out of here! You're asking me to pay for them? With what money!"

"That other American mate didn't seem to have any problem," the man said nonchalantly. "Ya better thing about scrounging up some pesetas real fast, kiddo. He's already bought some killer weapons from me. And if you're going up against him, I'll save something much better for you."

"How much are we talking?"

"Before I tell you how much, you need to know that the Chicago Typewriter is a very powerful .."

"I don't need a goddamn typewriter, I need a gun!"

"Oi! The Chicago Typewriter IS a gun, ya buffoon! A machine gun, at that!"

"Oh …"

"And it's gonna be a million pesetas."

Kenny's eyes bulged from his head. "A million?"

"That's right," the weapons dealer declared proudly, smiling.

"To hell with you."

"Oi, now wait up, mate!" But Kenny didn't pay any attention. This moron was out in one of the deadliest, most rural places in Europe and he was trying to squeeze as much money as he could from a penniless university student! There was no way he was going to get a dime from Kenny. But what he'd revealed worried Kenny. The American agent had already bought some weapons from this guy. And judging from the selection he carried, they weren't just ordinary handguns either. How in the world was he going to stop the agent from taking Ashley? He suddenly felt the need to talk to his friend, more urgently than ever before.

It was difficult to see in the rapidly fading light. But by the time Kenny approached the front entrance of the church, he could hardly make out the shape of his hand in front of his face. He fumbled around the darkness for the handle to the door. Finding it, he pushed against it, then pulled. The thing wouldn't budge! Krauser must've locked it upon leaving the place. Kenny cursed and kicked his foot against the base of the door, stubbing his toe in the process.

Well if the front entrance didn't work, then he was going to have to find another way around. The wall stretched around to the right. With any luck, there would be a side door. Keeping his hand against the wall for guidance and for balance, he walked around the side of the building, carefully feeling for another door. And he'd found it, based on the changing texture from stone to metal. He found the knob for it and turned.

"Damn it!" he cursed again. This one was locked too. He let out a sigh and gathered his thoughts. Okay, so there were only two entrances to the church from this side of the building. If he wanted to get inside from a back entrance, that meant he'd have to scale an impossibly high fence made from what looked like arrow heads, or go around the other way which meant scaling a cliff overlooking an the sea. Neither idea appealed to him.

He heard a low, guttural growl from behind him. Kenny spun around to meet a set of glowing eyes about a foot off the ground – about the same height as a dog. Its teeth were gleaming so brightly that he could make out the sharpness. Judging from the sound the thing was producing, Fido was not happy.

Kenny moved like he never had before. He dog leapt for him. And as it came closer, he could see by its face that the thing was a damn wolf straight from the depths of hell. He jumped along with the beast, higher than he ever had before. He smashed the feral wolf's face with his foot, helping launch his body even higher into the air. The top of the wall was within reach! He grabbed hold of it with his hands, scraping them along the hard stone, but he hadn't taken notice of the damage to his palms quite yet. He dangled for a moment, his feet within biting range. Mustering his strength, the pulled himself up and over the wall, landing on the other side flat on his rear.

"I've really gotta get into shape," he said to himself. The last time he'd attempted scaling a wall was back on Rockfort Island, over a set of locked doors higher than this one. Back then, he'd gone through three months of intense physical training to help him with his strength and agility. He still had the agility part down somewhat. But strength wise, he guessed he'd since eaten one too many bags of nachos.

Just beside the locked door was a flight of stairs leading into the church. If he was any lucky, those doors wouldn't be locked. He tried it, pushing gently against the wood, and the door gave way. Warm air from the church soothed his cold, clammy skin. Kenny looked up into the sky and noticed that gray clouds were gathering overhead. It was going to rain soon, and he couldn't have found the entrance to the church at a better time.

He stepped into the building, hearing his footsteps echo off the stone floor. A lone figure stood in the center aisle, facing the altar. It was wearing a cloak too, much like that of the weapons merchant. He had his back to Kenny, but spoke to him, as if he were expected.

"What brings you here at this hour?" the figure asked, still kneeling.

"I … I'm here to guard Ashley," Kenny replied.

"Are you doubtful that she's with capable hands?"

"No. It's just … I just came back from the village. And evidence there suggests that the American agent has arrived. I just want to make sure he doesn't get near Ashley."

The figure stood up and spun around quickly to face Kenny. The man was tall with a powerful, imposing figure. The shadows hid his eyes. "I doubt you will be able to handle the agent. I will remain close by, should you need any help."

"Who are you?" Kenny asked.

"I am Osmund Saddler," he said proudly, "leader of this community."

"You're the man responsible for the Plagas movement."

"I see you've done your homework."

"Krauser told me."

Saddler scoffed upon hearing the other man's name. "That fool. He thinks he's smarter than he actually is."

"What?"

"He's the one responsible for bringing you and the girl here, is he not? Thinking I would so readily trust an outsider just because he brings the President's daughter …"

"Not just any president," Kenny reminded him, "but the daughter of the President of the most powerful country in the world."

"That's what you Americans like to think of your country, don't you?"

"Hey, I'm not American, I'm just studying there …"

"Well I've got news for you. Once we reveal to you fools the power of the Las Plagas, you will soon bow before our power!"

"But you have to admit that even with a dumb-as-nails redneck running the joint, nuclear power is …"

"We will SHOW you the true meaning of power!"

"Alright," Kenny shrugged, giving up. "Have it your way, buddy. Just … let me see Ashley?"

"You know where she is," he replied, cocking his head up towards the balcony.

Outside, the thunder roared, signaling the impending danger that would soon befall the church and its occupants. Meanwhile, Kenny strode without a care in the world towards the ladder that led up towards the balcony, towards Ashley's makeshift cell, blissfully unaware of what would occur within the next few minutes. The first flash of lightning, and the thunder continued to boom.


	6. Chapter 4: Confrontations

Kenny's footsteps echoed off the stone cold floor, enhancing the feeling of loneliness he experienced while in the church. He knew Osmund Saddler, the leader of these people was somewhere on the lower level, probably looking up at him as he walked slowly on the second floor balcony, as if somehow producing a sound would anger the old man. It seemed like a trap. Why would Kenny be allowed to see Ashley? Didn't Saddler know they were friends? Why was it that Krauser and Ada trusted that he wouldn't betray them? Kenny knew he couldn't – he valued Ashley's life too much, but they didn't know that.

Question after question passed through his mind until he finally reached the door to the room that held her prisoner. Kenny gulped and knocked softly on the wooden surface.

"Hey, Ash, are you there?" he asked with a shaky voice.

"Oh, thank goodness you're here, Kenny," she said, her muffled voice coming from the other side. "I was about to lose my mind, thinking about could happen to us."

"I came here to talk to you."

"About what?"

"I dunno," he replied, shrugging, "just stuff. Like, how's school going for you?"

"Ugh," she scoffed, "you won't believe when they decided to kidnap me. I was just headed back home from my exam."

"Shit … I'm supposed to have one real soon too. I was studying before they called me in."

"Haha! Kenneth Feng, studying?"

"It's true. And it's great to know if we make it through this ordeal, we'll be going home to a really low GPA."

"God, don't remind me. At least Daddy's not gonna kill me for doing bad this time."

"At least you have a dad to kill you."

"Oh … I'm sorry. I know I promised you that I would learn to appreciate the parental units once in awhile. I can't imagine going through life without them. Although the freedom must be great!"

"Yeah, all that freedom and I just so happen to end up working as an experiment/agent for the world's most evil corporation. Life's just kick ass, isn't it."

A clanking metallic sound echoed throughout the hollow space of the church, silencing Kenny and Ashley. Was it Saddler? Was he the one who made that sound? Kenny's eyes scanned the surrounding area for any movement, but everything was still. It even seemed as if Saddler had left. Maybe he had, and that was the sound of the door unlocking.

"Ash, I'm gonna check out that noise," he whispered.

But the front door of the church opened, and Kenny stared on in horror. The shape of a man stepped through the narrow gap, one hand holding a handgun, looking around quietly, looking for anyone who hoped to surprise him. Kenny hurriedly scrambled behind a column to avoid detection. It was the agent sent to rescue Ashley, no doubt about it. He was a mean looking mother, with the deepest frown on his face, at least that was what he could make out from the long hair that hung down the sides of his head. He wore a form fitting black T-shirt and blue pants, strapped all over with guns, a radio, ammunition. Kenny felt the handgun in the pocket of his denim. This was all he had. Suddenly, he wished he had struck up a bargain with the weapons merchant.

Should he attack the agent while he still had the element of surprise on his side? Or should he just let Ashley be rescued? A part of Kenny wanted to just let the guy come in and take her away. That way he wouldn't have to engage the agent in battle, Ashley would be safe, and everyone would be happy. Everyone except Krauser, that is, and maybe Ada too. Was Kenny then willing to put up with an angry version of that duo? They would probably kill him. But if he could kill the agent now, Krauser and Ada would be happy and Kenny would be safe, but Ashley would still be stuck here – unless the both of them escaped together. Yes, that was the best plan yet. Kill the agent and earn Ada and Krauser's trust, nab Ashley and escape back to the States together!

Kenny took a second to congratulate himself on how smart he was and without wasting another moment, pulled the handgun from his pocket, aimed from the upper balcony down towards the entrance of the church where the agent now stood, and pulled the trigger. The agent jumped at around the same time a mini cloud and small chunks of stone exploded upwards from the floor at the agent's feet. He reactively jumped behind the closest column, out of view from Kenny.

"I missed," he swore at himself. "I fucking missed him!" That was the one and only perfect shot he would have ever gotten and he screwed up and missed. The next time, if there was a next time, he'd have to face the agent in a face to face battle. And that was not going to be pretty.

Kenny peered around the column to see if he could sneak in a shot – right around the same time the agent did. He caught sight of the man's face, only for long enough to make out his facial features and thought the face that looked back at him seemed somewhat familiar. But the man's reflexes were too quick, shooting at Kenny's head, barely giving the youth enough time to duck out of the way. The bullet chipped a chunk of stone away from the support structure and sprayed some dust into his eye, but he was unscathed other than that.

"Who are you!" a stern voice called out. "You're not like the others."

"So you're the one who's killed all the villagers," Kenny responded, ignoring the man's questions. "I don't tolerate people who take pleasure killing civilians." He had no idea where he was finding such corny words. Kenny was judging his choice of language as he spoke, causing his voice to waver, making him sound weak.

"You're not like the others."

"Damn right, I'm not," he said, decided there was nothing wrong with his normal pattern of speech. "But that doesn't mean I'm planning on letting you out of here alive." Yeah right, and how was he going to kill the agent? He'd figure that out later.

"Alright then, why don't you come and get me?"

This guy had some nerve. Invite Kenny to come and take him, making him open to the agent's shot? "Listen buddy, I don't know how stupid you think I am but …" Kenny peered around the corner to see the agent standing in the middle of the floor with his arms open, ready to be taken. He could feel his fighting instinct come back to him in an instant. It was like his arm moved by itself, his hand tightening around the trigger as he aimed at the agent's chest, all in one swift motion.

But the man, obviously being older and having spent more time training, was faster. It had only taken a fraction of a second for him to withdraw his own handgun from its holster strapped around his thigh and shoot.

This one hit Kenny in the opposite shoulder from where the one that had been slashed by the rabid villager earlier that day. It felt as if his shoulder had been blown into fragments in one giant spray of blood. He let out a cry more out of surprise than pain and then went down. His body met the dusty stone floor and that was when the agony set in. The pain was so sharp, so intense that his vision started to fade, his body went cold and he began to shake from the shock.

"You went down with one shot … really not like the others …" the agent said, his voice sounding quite distant. Kenny forced himself to sit up to spit a thousand curses. The first thing he saw was the barrel of the handgun pointed at him, the laser beam attached to it finding a cozy place between his eyes. From beyond the gun, Kenny could see the agent clearly now that he was standing only a few feet away, forcing his eyes to widen in surprise. There was no mistaking the sharp, youthful facial features, only this time with a little more age and razor stubble. The hairstyle hadn't changed and he couldn't figure out way he didn't recognize the agent earlier, even from a distance.

"L…Leon!"

The gun lowered instantly and Leon S. Kennedy, the rookie police officer who six years ago, rescued him from being delivered to a mysterious organization interested in his Shadow Technology, looked back at him with an expression of pure shock.

"Shit …" he had only managed to say. "Kenny! W … what the … why … YOU!"

"I was just gonna say the same thing!" he replied. "The government sent you here!"

"I'm here to take Ashley back," Leon explained. "And …" the look of regret on Leon's face told Kenny that he understood. Kenny had said he wasn't willing to let Leon leave alive.

"I didn't mean …" he began to say, but there was no way Kenny could take those words back. They told Leon a lot more than he wanted to reveal to his old friend.

"You're with them again, aren't you?" Leon asked.

"Well … no," Kenny lied.

"Then what was with that shooting back there?"

"I just wanted to protect Ashley from anyone that might want to hurt her."

"Kenny, she was kidnapped from her University campus by terrorists just days ago and brought HERE. How did you of all people end up with her? Are you telling me that the government secretly hired you to protect her while they sent me to rescue her?"

"…yeah."

"Then you're a God-awful liar, kiddo."

"It's the truth!" Kenny insisted. "But … not exactly. I can explain!"

"Why, Kenny?" Leon moaned, slapping his free hand to his face, running it roughly through his hair. "Did you not promise us that you would keep out of trouble and carry on with your life?"

"Yeah …"

"So what the hell's up with all this bullshit!" Leon was shouting now, clearly upset. "And now I've gone and fucked up your goddamn shoulder! All of this for what, exactly? You better have a good explanation for this."

"I do, actually," Kenny said. Kenny moved his arm as he spoke, trying to add emphasis, but winced from the bullet wound. His body was still shaking. "You know why I'm still involved in all this? Because we both have the same goals – to keep Ashley safe."

"I don't plan on letting her stay here, Kenny. You do. You wanted to keep her here. It doesn't matter who could've been in my place. But you are willing to kill anyone who attempts to rescue her. And that notion right there tells me that you've converted to terrorism."

"I don't know about you, Leon, but when I'm given a job, I do my best at it, and anything else that can help with. My job was to help gather the Las Plagas samples. But I figured that if I 'guarded' Ashley, I could somehow earn their trust and …"

"And you accepted the job?"

"With Ashley's life hanging in the balance, you think I couldn't?"

"And you didn't bother contacting any of us? There's a whole slew of people who could've helped you with this – Chris, Jill, me …"

"First off, it's been years since I've spoken to any of you! I wasn't going to get any third parties involved. They wanted me, so that's what I gave them. I didn't want to jeopardize Ashley's safety by doing anything else."

"So why you?"

"I've got a pretty impressive resume, Leon. You should know."

"Lets hope Umbrella's not on your resume," he smirked. But as quickly as it had come, the smile faded. "Umbrella … If you're involved with the Plagas movement, that can't mean that Umbrella …"

"I don't know anything about what's going on. I'm just co-operating with whatever they told me to do."

Leon responded with a quick swipe of his knife to Kenny's throat, stopping the blade just inches before it would deliver a lethal slash. "I like you, Kenny," he said, his voice deep with regret, "but I don't like Umbrella and I despise liars. Now you better open your mouth before …"

Kenny reacted instantly, performing a swift turning kick, his leg nothing but a blur of flesh as it knocked the blade from Leon's hand. The older man took only a second to gawk in surprise at the youth's impressive speed, but only a second. Leon moved into full retaliation mode, withdrawing his gun from its holster. Kenny dove for his firearm, throwing himself onto the ground with his arms outstretched in front of him. The bullet wound he received from Leon was already beginning to numb. He felt like he could move almost any way he wanted to at this point. He tucked into a shoulder roll, simultaneously swiping the gun up from the dusty church floor as he went.

Leon already had his own gun aimed and was firing at Kenny as the youth moved across the floor, behind the protection of the altar at the front of the church. "I'm sorry it had to come to this, Kenny. But I've sworn to myself that Umbrella and its associates had to go down. And I'm not going to let anyone stop me from eliminating them. Not even you."

"You know what, Leon? You're damned right. I lied to you. I know who I'm working for and I'm not telling you about the kind of shit that's hitting the fan. And I'm doing this to protect Ashley! If I spill the beans…"

"I'm here to save Ashley and you've chosen to be an obstacle over an ally." A bullet scraped the pillar by Kenny's shoulder.

"Because if I side with you and they get the upper hand, all three of us are dead!" Kenny fired this time, aiming at Leon's head. But he ducked behind a pew, the shot taking some splintered wood with it off the backrest of the seat.

"So you'd rather fight for the wrong side!" Another shot that tore through the fabric of the altar table that obscured Kenny's form.

The youth found a bottle of ceremonial red wine sitting on the table, an idea suddenly coming to him. He ripped a piece of fabric from his shirt and placed it inside the bottle, leaving just the tip of the cloth poking out from the mouth. He tried buying some time by talking.

"I'm a survivor, Leon. I've been one my whole life." He made sure to tip the bottle so that much of the fabric had soaked up the alcohol. "I don't care what side I'm fighting on." Grabbing a lit candle from the altar, he torched the tip of the fabric and stood up, throwing himself in Leon's line of fire. "As long as I make it out with my fucking LIFE!" Kenny hurled the Molotov Cocktail towards Leon, who had up to that point, been steadying his aim until he saw the fireball come sailing towards him.

The flammable concoction narrowly missed the agent's head as it crashed into the pew behind him, the bottle smashing to pieces as its fiery liquid coated the surrounding area. Leon found himself rolling on the ground under the pew in front of him, but the liquid had spread to the floor and was now singeing his clothes. Leon patted himself violently, stamping out the growing flames on his body with his gloved hands. As soon as he had most of the fire on him out, he used his arms and a foot to overturn the pew he'd been hiding under, coughing violently from the fumes.

He swiped his hair from his eyes, struggling to see through the smoke. But Kenny was nowhere to be seen. The kid was a smart one, very resourceful, making a weapon from practically scratch within a few tense moments and buying himself ample time to make his escape. It was no wonder he'd survived Raccoon City. And Leon was sure he could've done it with or without the Shadow Technology in his body – which reminded him – Kenny moved pretty well for being shot in the shoulder. If the technology could help the kid out that much, he'd hate to face Kenny in a hand to hand combat. Leon shook his head in regret as he bent down to retrieve his weapons with only one word running through his head. "Why?"

**XXXXX**

Kenny had fled the scene as soon as he hurled the Molotov cocktail. He didn't even wait for it to explode. But once he saw Leon's head duck, he knew it was time to make his move. He sprinted as fast as his legs would carry him through the smoke. As he dashed by Leon, he could hear the agent coughing his lungs out and immediately felt the stab of guilt. Leon had helped him get out of Raccoon City. This was not the treatment he deserved. In fact, Kenny practically owed Leon his life. He should have sided with Leon and help him and Ashley escape the island safely. They deserved that much from him at least.

But there was no time to feel guilty. As soon as Leon was back on his feet, he would be no doubt firing a hail of bullets on Kenny. He was lucky the agent hadn't yet used any of the stronger weapons that the merchant claimed he'd purchased. Kenny stopped running when he bolted through the front entrance of the church. He jogged around the entrance towards the back, sitting beside some ancient looking sun dial with strange symbols carved around its edges like numbers on a clock. Not really taking notice, he leaned up against the wall of the building and sank to his rear, overwhelmed with emotion.

He was angry. It just had to turn out like this. His best hope of escaping this continent alive had come – and it was a friend, no less, and Kenny had ended up shooting at him. This wasn't what he planned at all. This was sure as hell not what he expected, nor wanted. Leon was probably hunting Kenny down now, but he couldn't find it in himself to get up and run away. Kenny was marked, he knew it. And the thought made him want to throw up from the feelings of fear and betrayal that had resulted. To be marked for death by a friend … He had nobody left to turn to but Ada and Krauser, the two people that would likely leave him to die in this remote village, whether or not he was successful in retrieving the Plagas samples. The fear, the anger, the betrayal … it was too much for him to take in a time span of less than five minutes. The rain was starting to pour down in the dark night, literally dampening his mood even more. But he took no notice of the large droplets that splattered over his entire body. Burying his face in his hands, he took a deep breath and began to sob uncontrollably.


	7. Chapter 5: Waiting for an Answer

**E-ZB:** I can only hope you update soon. You've got a pretty big group of followers with that fic so try not to disappoint!

**Ash:** It's not that uncommon to find a bottle of wine in a CHURCH is it?

**Vammy:** No, Leon doesn't actually find out that Ada is present until the castle scene – which is actually coming up, since Ada and Kenny are already there waiting for him. I'm not sure how I'm going to work this scene quite yet with Kenny's presence. I'm not sure if I want him there or if I'll send him off to do something. Hence, this filler chapter!

**XXXXX**

"Shh…," someone whispered gently, cradling Kenny gently. He had no idea who it was, and was too wrapped up in his emotions at this point to even register that there was someone there with him. "You feel betrayed, I can understand that."

Ada bit her lip, feeling awkward. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been this motherly, this caring about another person, nor did she care to. Ada didn't even think she cared too much for her boyfriend, John. Well, she did, but she just didn't show it all too much. And Ada couldn't afford to either. After all, technically, she had only gotten close to John to gain access to Umbrella's more classified information, but there was no denying that some affection for John had blossomed within her.

The same thing had happened with Leon when she ran into him at the police department parking lot, when he was only twenty one, just barely out of his teens. It was his youth that attracted Ada to him, and his lust for life, thinking he was invincible, rushing off into hordes of zombies to protect her – HER, of all people! Under the protection of a rookie police officer fresh out of the academy? The fact that he thought she needed his protection made her snicker at just how innocent he really was. It had taken her hours for Ada to express her feelings for Leon – which was a long time considering the life and death circumstances they had been facing all night, that one night six years ago.

Neither Leon nor Ada was sure what happened to them that night was a result of a bond that had formed between them during a survival crisis, or if the love they felt was legitimate. But whatever it was, she had trouble expressing even that

And now with Kenny … it wasn't exactly love she felt for the youth. He had his face buried into her upper arm, his cold, clammy hands moistened from the rain clutched at her shoulder blades. His own shoulders were shaking, trembling, and she doubted it was from the cold. And Ada pitied him. Kenny was now Leon's age when she had first met him. The only difference with Kenny was he had nobody to look out for him in this strange land, nobody to back him up. Leon had Ada in Raccoon City. And now, Ada had found Kenny by himself, sobbing at the side of the church. She'd tried asking him what the matter was, but he didn't even take note of her presence. But when she'd taken him into her arms, it was like he knew what to do.

"We need to get you out of the cold," Ada whispered to him. "If you get sick, you won't be in any shape to complete your mission."

"I don't know if I want to," Kenny replied, his voice trembling. "I failed before I could even start. I let the agent take Ashley. Now that she's safe, I have nothing else to accomplish here."

"You have the mission Wesker's sent you on."

"I don't have to accomplish that mission anymore. And even if I do, what do they plan on doing to me after? I don't want my future to consist of Umbrella or any other organization of similar interests. As it is, I've already lost a friend because of Umbrella…"

"Leon found out about you, I see." Ada said, stroking Kenny's hair.

"I tried to kill him," Kenny replied.

"You what!" Ada asked in shock.

"I couldn't let him take Ashley away," Kenny explained. "If I did, then Krauser and Saddler would've definitely killed the both of them."

"What makes you so sure?" Ada asked. "Don't you have faith in Leon's abilities?"

"I do, but he is one man. There's an entire village under Saddler's control. And they're not zombies either. These guys are smart. There's no doubt just going by their sheer numbers, they'll be able to overpower Leon."

"You don't think Ashley's safe with him."

"Not at all. But … I know I made a mistake."

Ada laughed nervously. "You sure as hell did. He's not that rookie cop anymore, Kenny. The guy could own you in a fight if he so chose. You're lucky he didn't retaliate or you wouldn't be around …"

"He did, Ada. Drew a fucking gun from his holster, aimed it at me and fired."

"I find that hard to believe."

"Then explain this." He turned his body to reveal a bullet wound in his shoulder. Ada was speechless as she stared at the hole that had clogged over with blood. "And if this doesn't convince you, I'll let him tell you straight."

"We'll leave that for later," Ada said, changing the subject. "Right now, we've gotta get you warmed up." She helped lift Kenny to his feet. At least the tears had stopped for the time being.

"Where are we going?"

"There's a castle just outside the village. No doubt Leon and Ashley will be heading there after they escape the village. We'll meet up with them there and you and Leon and reconcile."

"Why don't we just get over to the island where the Plagas samples are located, get them, and leave this joint? If you're so sure about Leon taking care of himself and Ashley, then we'll leave them to do just that."

"But …" Ada couldn't find the right words to begin. "Aren't you uncomfortable leaving Ashley?"

"What more can I do for her? She's in Leon's hands now, remember? And he wants to kill me."

"Leon isn't a heartless creature," Ada explained. "You may not be on his side, but I'm sure he'd understand that you didn't have a choice."

"You missed our entire conversation," Kenny said, shaking his head. "It doesn't matter now. Let's just get going. The sooner I can get back to living my life, the better. I don't ever want to have to worry about Umbrella, Wesker, or the Plagas again."

**XXXXX**

When Kenny awoke, he'd found himself in a rather grand looking bed, complete with posts on all four corners and a red velvet pillows to support his head. He sat up sleepily, rubbing his eyes, looking at the room around him. There was an elaborate wooden closet with gold trimming and a matching set of drawers. There was a doorway built into one of the walls, but no door to give any privacy. How in the world did he get here? There was a pair of lit candles sitting on the dresser, the only source of lighting in the magnificent room. It seemed as if it had been ripped from an alternate time and placed in the present.

"Or maybe I've been warped into the passed," Kenny commented to himself. He remembered seeing pictures of rooms like these in the middle ages, where kings would keep their most honored guests. Kenny smirked to himself.

Whispering in the hallway beyond the room caught his attention. It seemed as if outside was lit by candles as well, seeing the flickering shadows of two people arguing in hushed voices. Ada and Krauser. It was hard to make out what they were saying, but Kenny decided to go investigate. If they were planning anything, he didn't want to miss out on it.

"What are you guys babbling about?" he asked, walking into the hallway. He noticed that it was decorated in a similar theme to the bedroom. Magnificent chairs were placed about at every corner, more for decoration, and he doubted anyone actually sat in them. He couldn't see anyone sitting in those fine pieces of furniture at such odd angles and positions. The hall was long, wrapping itself around the room, disappearing around the left corner. To Kenny's right, a pair of finely carved doors with stained glass windows built right into them sat open, leading out onto a balcony overlooking a majestic hedge maze one floor down in the courtyard. This place was definitely a castle alright.

"Good to see Sleeping Bratty is finally awake," Krauser noted.

"Did you get to Saddler like you planned?" Kenny asked.

"Yeah, but I've got a feeling the guy doesn't completely trust me yet."

"Just as I expected," Ada said. "Good thing you have us as backup. If he doesn't hand over the samples, we're just going to have to steal it. And fortunately for us, he's completely unaware of our presence."

"Um …" Kenny raised his hand. "I beg to differ. I ran into Saddler at the church. A tall, balding guy with a purple cloak, yeah?"

Ada didn't look impressed. "You blew our cover?"

"The guy looked like he was expecting us."

"Then we've got trouble on our hands."

"Saddler hasn't made any move to intercept us yet," Krauser reminded them. "I don't think he sees us as threats."

"Or he could just be keeping his guard up," Kenny added.

"Whatever you're doing, Krauser," Ada said, "keep it up. If you haven't been given a reason to be aggressive towards Saddler and the Ganados, then continue being their friend. Kenny and I will stay here and watch Leon, keep him out of your way."

"As soon as anything goes wrong between you and Saddler," Kenny continued, "contact us right away. We'll make our way over to the island and resort to plan B. Steal the samples."

Krauser smiled, impressed with Kenny. "It's good to see you're finally co-operating. I gotta admit, I never expected this out of you. What happened?"

"I failed to keep Ashley from being rescued." Kenny expected Krauser to be angry, speaking with a soft, weak voice as he looked towards his feet.

"It doesn't matter," Krauser said. "As long as they're stuck on in this place, they're as good as in Saddler's hands anyway. I don't want you worrying your little head over this. Just focus on the task at hand. I'll take care of Saddler, you guys watch out for the Agent … not that he needs any taking care of."

"What do you mean by that!" Ada asked, seizing Krauser's arm instinctively.

He glanced down at her hand holding his arm, and then back up at her face. "A little feisty, aren't ya? What's Leon to you?"

"He's …" Ada released her grip and looked away. "He doesn't mean anything to me."

"Then I guess you wouldn't care to know that I sent an entire village after him and Ashley while they were cooped up in a cabin." Ada's eyes widened in surprise, but realized that she couldn't say anything.

"You can stop pretending," Krauser said, "I know there's a special place for Leon in your heart. But I warn you, if you try anything funny …" He looked at Kenny. "And the same goes to you, squirt!" He spun around and stormed off into the depths of the castle with Ada looking down at her stiletto clad feet.

"Do you think they made it?" she asked blankly.

"I wouldn't think so," Kenny said. "There's two of them against an entire village of people."

"I swear," Ada seethed, "if they really are dead, I'll kill Krauser with my bare hands."

"You feel really strongly about Leon, huh?"

"You don't understand, Kenny. Back in Raccoon …" This was the first time he'd see her open up to him. Even when they were together six years ago, Ada was nothing but a cold hearted bitch who loved to talk down to those she deemed inferior to herself. But now, it seemed that her relationship with Kenny was getting somewhere. "Nevermind, it was a long time ago anyway." She once again donned her cold exterior and sat in one of those décor chairs that Kenny had sworn nobody sat in just a few moments earlier.

"So what do we do now?"

"We follow orders. We sit and wait for the Agent." And something told Kenny that was exactly what Ada needed to do, as she clasped her hands and brought them to her mouth as if in open-eyed prayer.


	8. Chapter 6: At the Castle

Saddler gazed out at the dead trees rushing past him just beyond the dirty glass window of the truck. In the drivers seat sat one of the Ganados, a villager infected with a Plagas creature. He was a burly man in a dirty shirt that looked as if it was once white, perhaps gray. It was hard to tell beyond the thick layer of caked on mud, blood and sweat. His facial features were hidden behind a burlap mask, what Saddler imagined to be extremely uncomfortable, especially against the sensitive skin on the face. But the villager displayed no signs of discomfort as he drove the truck.

Saddler's encounter with Leon back at the church hadn't been as productive as he'd hoped. He wanted to take the girl Ashley from him right then and there. Apparently, the youth that Krauser brought along with him failed to keep her from the Agent's hands - not that Saddler had any faith in the boy in the first place, especially when put up against a well-trained United States secret service agent. It seemed that Saddler too had underestimated the American. He hadn't expected the man to leap out a window with the President's delicate daughter in tow, but that was exactly what had happened. The two of them managed to escape from him unharmed.

In a fit of rage, Saddler sent practically half of the village after Leon and Ashley - not entirely sure what he intended the outcome to be. All he knew was that the American had to pay for disrupting their plans. He hadn't even given a thought to what might happen to the girl.  
An unexpected jerk from the truck bouncing along the dirt road pulled Saddler from his thoughts. The giant, majestic form of the castle loomed just above the crest of the hill they now climbed. Even though Saddler didn't give specific instructions to the Ganados to leave Ashley unharmed, it was safe to assume they would take the utmost care to preserve her life until the Plagas that had been injected into her body came to life. And he would be waiting for her arrival in the comfort of the castle. Krauser was to meet him there.

Krauser ... the thought of that man left a bitter taste in Saddler's mouth. Who did he think he was, anyway? How dare he have the audacity to come into their village and pretend to be their friend. Given the kind of power the Plagas presented to Saddler, it wasn't too surprising that the corrupt Americans would want a taste of it. He had no idea who sent Krauser in the first place, but Saddler intended to give the man what he wanted - not in the way Krauser would've expected, of course. Ashley would be returned to America safely in due time - with the Plagas inside her. And the entire country would then be brought to their knees. And to think the deadliest weapons they had to throw were viruses by the Umbrella Corporation ... The Plagas were far more superior. And Saddler loved the irony of it all, the irony of having the First Daughter bring the country's destruction.

XXXXX

It was the first time since Kenny arrived in this foreign village that he had a moment to himself, a moment to seriously think about everything that's happened to him within the last day. He brought the filter to a cigarette to his mouth and puffed on it, feeling the warm air soothe and caress his trachea, blowing it out in plume of pure white smoke that dispersed in the slight breeze.

He was leaning on his elbows, propped up against the stone guard of the balcony. Standing at one storey above the ground, he could see an elaborate garden maze stretch out before him, about as wide as a football field was long. The hedges were all immaculately trimmed to look as if they were perfectly rectangular, forming a completely impassable walls. They looked like they were taller than a normal person too, so if anyone were to get caught in there, they would've most probably died if they ever got lost. Kenny doubted it was that deadly though. There must've been some kind of secret escape in the event that someone lost their way.

"That's gonna kill you one day, you know," a voice said from the doorway that led inside. Kenny turned around to face Ada, leaning against the door frame with her arms crossed over her chest.

"I could say the same thing about your job."

"A bullet's more merciful than cancer."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because it amuses me how young people have no sense of their mortality. I was like that once."

"Don't go off turning into a grandmother on me."

"I'm sorry, I just …" Ada trailed off, breaking eye contact. She wasn't the same woman Kenny remembered back in Raccoon City. She was more gentle, more caring. He would've never expected her to console him outside the church just a few hours ago, let alone bring him to the castle and let him rest, but she did.

"You've changed," Kenny said, catching Ada off guard. He said it softly and smiled to himself, unsure of whether Ada had taken his words in a good or bad way.

She scoffed. "No offense, junior, but last time, we didn't exactly get close enough for you to know what I was like before."

"You took me against my will in the name of Umbrella and threatened to kill me and my friends. That says enough to know what your value system is all about."

"I forgot about that," she chuckled.

"What happened back then, anyway? I remember a car crash …"

"A car sideswiped us as I was taking you back to headquarters. And it wasn't Umbrella I was bringing you to, as you might already know."

"It was that mysterious company that Wesker was working for."

"Turned out that the driver who caused our crash was an Umbrella Agent, a very good one at that – went by the code name Hunk."

"Mr. Hunk," Kenny said nodding. "I remember. He was the guy that took me to Umbrella's Rockfort facility to train and … become like him."

"I've always wondered," Ada began, "why did you go along with it? I thought you were against Umbrella."

"I was doing it to protect Chris and the others from you and Wesker. I thought that if your crazy little organization was obsessive enough over me, maybe you'd take the war over to Umbrella."

"And you were hoping both organizations would be so involved in a conflict that they'd forget about S.T.A.R.S.," Ada finished. "You're a clever one, even for teenager back then. Your only mistake was underestimating the kind of grudge Wesker had against Chris, and just how much that drove him."

"Well you've got me now. But why are you using me in Umbrella's name? I didn't know you worked for them."

"I don't," she replied simply. "I work for Wesker. And he puts his own agenda ahead of anyone else's."

"Wesker doesn't work for Umbrella …"

"He sides with whomever can help him out the most. He's back with them, and they want the Las Plagas samples."

"How is Umbrella going to help him out? They're officially defunct now."

Ada shrugged, saying, "I have no idea. But I owe that man my life. I'll stick with him for as long as he needs me."

"Ah, the old feudal honor system," Kenny said, nodding.

"Oh? I thought you were Chinese too …"

"Yeah, but after life on the streets for fifteen odd years, survival becomes a little more important."

"Shh," Ada suddenly interrupted, holding a finger to her thick, ruby lips. "Somebody's coming."

Kenny hushed down, and perked his ears, listening for any movement. Initially, there was just the gentle wind, and the occasional burst of thunder from the cloudy skies overhead. Then there were the squawks of the castle's local crows taking flight, their feathers ruffling against each other. He didn't ear anything else.

"What are you listening for?" he whispered, but Ada didn't respond, keeping her eyes trained on the surrounding environment, wondering which direction their new guest was to approach from. And then Kenny saw it – in the garden maze down below, he saw the bushes ruffle. The movement was too strong and too concentrated to be the wind blowing over the hedges. There was definitely someone, or something down there.

"Get away from the edge," Ada said quietly, pulling Kenny gently away, extracting her handgun from her hip holster. Kenny only nodded and watched in fear as the thing made its way to the edge of the garden and emerged from behind a hedge.

It was Leon, the American agent sent by the U.S. to come and rescue the President's daughter. It was the same man that helped him escape Raccoon City, and the man that tried to kill him just mere hours ago. Leon was here to kill him, Kenny was sure of it, and his hands began to tremble.

Ada, on the other hand, seemed to have a completely different reaction. Her eyes widened in delight, and her corners of her mouth tugged upwards to form a smile. "They made it," she said.

Kenny shook his head. "No, HE made it," pointing at Leon, who was now ascending the stairs that would eventually lead to the balcony on which they stood. "And the only person who could stop him from killing me is not with him! Where the hell is Ashley?"


	9. Interlude: Reaching an Agreement

Ada left Kenny quickly and quietly, heading off towards the double doors that would led back into the castle. Kenny remained behind, looking on as she went, wondering what the secret agent was hoping to gain out of this. He took a step to follow her, and then hesitated, instead choosing to stay behind on the balcony while Leon rapidly approached, as he had finally found his way out of the garden maze down below.

She turned around and spoke to Kenny over her shoulder. "Aren't you coming too?" she asked. "If what you told me about Leon is true, he won't hesitate to kill you if you stay here and try to confront him.

Kenny shook his head. "I have some things to straighten out with him," he replied. "I can't carry on this mission while he has his misconceptions about me. I want him to know that I mean him no harm. It's my only chance of making it out of this place alive – to let him take me with him when he gets out of here."

"Are you so sure he won't kill you before you get the chance to utter a word?" Ada asked. "I have to confront him as well. You'd stand a better chance of not eating a bullet if I'm there."

"Last I checked," Kenny shot back, "You stabbed him in the back with a fucking meat cleaver. I'll take my chances alone, thanks."

"Very well, then," Ada conceded. "But keep in mind I won't come outside to help you if he decides to shoot you."

"My chances of making it out of here alive would be better if he doesn't think we've teamed up against him." Ada said nothing more as she disappeared behind the doors, closing and locking them behind her. Kenny panicked upon hearing the sound and jumped for the doors, tugging on the handles. Ada had deliberately left him out here to die! Not offering to come out and help was one thing, but ensuring that Kenny would have no chance of escaping if Leon did indeed decide to go medieval on his ass? That was too much!

Kenny noticed a hollow just above the knobs in which two pieces could be inserted. He guessed that if the pieces were found and placed, the doors would unlock and entrance to the building would be gained. But he didn't know where they pieces were located should he need them to escape Leon. Or … perhaps Leon had the pieces and was on his way up now to get inside and continue his mission …

He heard the click of a firearm behind him and Kenny spun around to meet the barrel of a gun pointing at him, a laser dot settling between his eyes. Leon was behind the gun, his brows creased angrily.

"You'll need these," he said, motioning to his belt with his free hand. Kenny saw two pieces of a single silver emblem in his side pouch. "But I don't think you'll live to get inside, unless you can think of an explanation within the next five seconds."

"Hold on, Leon," Kenny said urgently, raising both hands to the air, trying to indicate that he was unarmed and meant no harm. But Leon didn't look like he was buying it. "Please, don't do this."

"After what you did to me back at the church?" Leon asked, his voice eerily calm. "You could have killed me back there, kid. And I might have to kill you now to prevent any future risks."

"It's like I said earlier," Kenny pressed, "I'm not trying to get anyone killed here. I just want to get Ashley out of this godforsaken countryside and make it back home alive. I just didn't think you'd be here to …"

"And trying to kill me in the process? What the hell was all that about, Kenny?" Leon had lowered his gun by now and was speaking angrily. "What the fuck is going on? You tell me this, but your actions tell me something else. You want to give these freaks exactly what they want, and play their sick little game. I just want to get Ashley out of here safe and sound, and I'm doing it by the most direct means possible."

"You have the freedom to do that!" Kenny retorted. "I'm stuck in this crazy place without speaking the local language, ripped from school against my will by some crazy renegade army guy with nothing but a handgun to protect myself with – and lets not forget I've got them forcing me to co-operate with them, waving the safety of my friend in my face. You have nothing to lose in this but your damn job! I have a friend!"

"I have my life to lose," Leon said.

"And I don't!" Kenny was hysteric now. The stress of having being caught between doing what he was ordered, and having his old friend from Raccoon, now a government agent, threatening to kill him, was taking its toll. He thought he'd been handling the situation pretty well, but now the tension was starting to build up to intolerable levels. All he wanted was to jet the hell out of here, go back to school, study for his exams, get a job, and continue living a normal life. It was all Umbrella's fault for taking that away from him in the first place, arming him with skills that he had no idea would be so valuable to other rival organizations. He swore to himself then and there that if he ever made it out of this place alive, that he would try even harder to absorb himself into anonymity. And it didn't matter whether his friendship with Leon dissolved or not. He just wanted out of here. With Ashley, it would be a nice bonus. But he no longer really cared. Just to have his life back, his life that was taken away from him two days ago …

"Look," Leon said, approaching him slowly. Kenny let Leon close the gap between them. He felt a little better now, venting his frustrations at the government agent. He'd spilled his heart out, having nothing to hide and he could only hope that Leon saw it – that Leon saw the frustrated young man barely out of his teens caught in an intolerably unfair situation. "I don't know what's going on with you, Kenny. But you can't blame me for how I'm viewing things here. You can't nail me for trying to do my job. This is a crazy situation you and I are dealing with and I know we're both incredibly stressed out. Normally I would've shot you on the spot. But I'd like to think I know you better than that, especially what we went through in Raccoon City."

"I was hoping you'd know me better than that too," Kenny admitted. "That's why back at the church, when we were shooting at each other, well, I was just so surprised by your reaction that I didn't know what to do. I did what I knew how to do – survive."

"Then tell me what's going on," Leon requested. "Tell me why you're here, or better yet, what the others are planning on doing to Ashley."

"They'll kill her," Kenny explained, "if I leak anything. I want to be on your side, Leon, but I can't take the risk, for Ashley's sake. I just have to keep playing this game, keep doing what I'm ordered to do. And if they tell me to kill you …"

"I understand, Kenny," Leon said, putting his hand on the youth's shoulder. "I don't know what to tell you right now, but it sounds like we'll be facing each other in the near future."

The youth leaned back against the wall of the castle and sank to his rear, throwing his face into his hands. "I don't want to do this, I really don't!" he cried. "But what choice do I have but to kill you if they order me to? It's either kill you, or have you kill me! Ashley's life will be saved, at least temporarily in that case, but one of us will end up dead!" He punched the floor, bruising his fist, but the pain was all too welcome, for it numbed the emotional torture and frustration he had no choice but to endure."

Leon stood back and looked down at helpless Kenny with sympathy in his expression, though Kenny was unable to see it. "If I let you live now, I also take a risk," he explained slowly. "I run the risk of having you endanger my life and Ashley's. But I'm not going to do anything about it just yet. I trust you, Kenny, and I know you'll make the right choice. I'll give you some time to think this over."

"It's not as black and white as you think it is, Leon. Maybe for you it is. Get Ashley and yourself out safely. But for me, it's risking my life in the hands of these crazies, killing you – a friend, or letting my best friend in school die if I don't. Everywhere I turn, death's at my doorstep. I'm glad you have faith in me. But this time, I wouldn't count on me making any kind of a decision with a happy ending."

Leon stood quietly for a second, looking like he was contemplating the words just spoken to him. He extended a hand, which Kenny took reluctantly, and hoisted the youth to his feet. "Think about it," Leon advised, "and I'll talk to you later. I'm going inside," he said, inserting the pieces of the medal into the hollow carved into the door. "You coming?"

"Just give me a few minutes out here," Kenny requested. "I've got a lot to digest right now."

"Don't take too long," Leon said and opened the door.

"One more thing," Kenny interrupted before he could step inside. "There's one thing you should know when you go in there."

"And that would be …?"

"Ada's waiting for you."


	10. Chapter 7: Friends from Afar

**Author's Notes: **Sorry for the incredibly long delay, folks. But I think I'm back in action now, for the time being anyway. Credits for _Lisa Hartley, Jack Carpenter, Renee Lavalle, Clarissa Harlech_and_Amber Bernstein_go to fellow author **Hyperactive Hamster of Doom. **These characters made their debut appearance in HHoD's story, Resident Evil: Project Lucifer, which I'm sure most of you are familiar with. Thanks for letting me use your characters once again, HHoD.

**XXXXX**

Ada watched silently from behind the door as Leon entered the room where only moments ago, she had plotted against him with Krauser and Kenny. Ada was a little disappointed in Leon, much to her surprise. She'd heard that he'd become a top-notch government agent, a far cry from the rookie Raccoon City police officer she'd met six years ago. But the way he walked in slowly, without even so much as having his weapon raised, she wondered how he had managed to survive the island so far, especially when moments ago, she'd heard Kenny tell him that she was expecting him in this very room. When Ada heard Kenny's words, the youth had ruined her surprise for Leon and for a brief moment, she wanted to rip he kid's heart out with the claws. But there were more pressing matters currently.

Leon didn't even hear Ada as she stepped into stride behind him, and placed the barrel of her handgun to the small of his back.

"Put your hands where I can see them," she ordered calmly. Of course, she was merely playing with Leon, as she had back in Raccoon. She wanted to see what he could do, how he would counter in such a situation. With rattled nerves, or maybe a weak retort, or a plea to spare his life, perhaps?

But Leon spoke calmly as he barely glanced over his shoulder at her. "Sorry, but following a lady's lead just isn't my style."

The cocky, arrogant bastard … Ada let her temper get the better of her for only a brief moment, but that was all the time Leon needed to deliver a counter attack, much to her surprise. He swung around so quickly, his arm was just a blur of flesh, let alone whatever weapon he held in it. Ada didn't wait to find out and somersaulted backwards, swiftly kicking the weapon out of his hand in the process.

But she had only just landed back on her feet when Leon was on her, holding a silver blade to her throat. Whatever disappointment Ada felt towards Leon before had vanished, replaced by awe of his skill – skill that she'd never seen displayed before. Leon had turned the battle around in his favor in less than five seconds, and he was probably a match for her now, her equal. Maybe he was even more skilled … No, there was no way, especially not in six short years.

"A bit of advice," Leon said, the corners of his mouth upturned ever so slightly. "Try using knives next time. Works better for close encounters."

Leon had Ada's gun in his hand, which she'd only now noticed. He could've easily shot her if he wanted to but instead, he ejected the clip and discarded the weapon casually. Ada couldn't help admiring the confidence with which he now moved, a far cry from that helpless boy she watched out for in Raccoon City.

"Leon," she said as he turned his back to her, "long time no see." She removed her expensive looking glasses and discarded them onto the plush rug.

"Ada," he replied without missing a beat, "so it is true."

She crinkled her brow with feigned confusion. It wasn't a secret anymore. Anyone who worked with any organization close to Umbrella knew where her alliances lay, especially now that Umbrella had been destroyed. "True? About what?"

"You're working with Wesker."

Ada smiled at his attempt to shove his knowledge in her face in such a matter-of-fact manner. Well if he wanted a reaction out of her, he'd be sadly disappointed. _So we've all grown up now, huh, _she thought.

Leon continued, unimpressed. "How was it Wesker was able to reel you in? How did he get his hands on you and Kenny?"

"Is it that big of a surprise that I'd side with Wesker, Leon?" Ada asked. "You know how I work. I'm with him because I'm in his debt."

"What did he ever do for you?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Ada said, a coy smile spreading across her ruby lips.

"And Kenny?" he pressed. "You, I can understand. But Kenny's just a high school kid!"

"College kid, Leon," Ada corrected.

"How'd someone like him get caught up in this whole mess? He's a civilian survivor from Raccoon City. He's supposed to be living in ambiguity now. What happened six years ago that made him so valuable to you, to Umbrella, and to Wesker? What happened to haunt him and pull him back into this bullshit all these years later?"

"I see you've been doing your homework," Ada said sarcastically, dancing around his question. "But for a government agent, you seem to be diving into this mission without having a clue of what's going on around you. There's more to all this than just Ashley. You might want to try studying harder next time."

"Why, Ada?" Leon asked, his voice a little more raised this time, as if he was desperate for an answer.

But she didn't give him he answer he wanted. "Why? What's it to you?"

"Why are you here?" Leon pressed. "Why did you and Kenny show up like this?"

Ada gave chuckled, just as the glasses she'd discarded earlier exploded in a flash of light, blinding Leon unexpectedly. He was still struggling to blink the black spots from his vision when she made her exit through the same doors he came through.

"See you around," she said, before vanishing outside the castle.

**XXXXX**

Kenny flicked remains of his cigarette, still lit, and watched it fall into the bushes of the garden maze below. He secretly hoped it would catch fire from the embers and burn this whole castle down. He had remained outside after Leon entered the castle as Ada waited for him in there. He told Leon that he wanted a few moments by himself to think things through, which wasn't exactly a lie. He had a lot on his plate right now, but Kenny also wanted to hear how he'd react to her; how they'd react to each other, more specifically. The moment Leon disappeared behind the door, Kenny had moseyed over to the stone wall of the building right by an open window and listened in on the conversation while smoking his third cigarette in a row.

He couldn't help smiling himself, the way Ada verbally worked the guy over. The woman was among the biggest bitches Kenny had ever come across, but it worked well to teach hard-headed, righteous, dye-in-the-wool hero, Leon S. Kennedy a lesson or two about his simple mindedness. She toyed with his mind like a cat does with a smaller animal.

Muddling over Leon's sense of right and wrong frustrated Kenny. It was so simple; you were either with the bad guys or the good guys. With him, or against him. There was no middle ground. The fact that someone else's life was hanging in the balance, this case, Ashley's, didn't change anything. Kenny wondered what Leon would have done in his shoes; when he was torn between the loyalty of friendship and morality with the threat of death hanging over his head.

He'd stopped paying attention to whatever the two of them were discussing in the room, too absorbed in his own thoughts to care, and smashed the back of his skull against the stone walls in anger. Pain exploded from back of his head, making the youth wince, and rub the forming bump tenderly. _Now who's the stupid one, Kenny, _he asked himself. He threw the cigarette butt over the edge of the balcony and lit up another – his fourth one in a row now.

Just as the flame of the lighter burst to life, a bright, white flash blinded him for a brief moment, coming from his peripheral vision. He instinctively rubbed his eyes, losing the flame from his lighter in the process. Just then, Ada came storming out of the room and looked at him, hunched in the corner, cigarette dangling from his lips.

"Hey," Kenny said, waving to her. "So how'd it go?" Ada narrowed her eyes at him and stormed right up to him and seized his ear, yanking the youth to his feet. "Ouch, s-stop that! It hurts – OUCH!"

"What the fuck was that all about?" she hissed into his ear. "Why did you tell Leon I was waiting for him inside?"

"What, you wanted to surprise him with some kind of special entrance?" Kenny asked. "Gee Ada, I didn't know you were a sucker for that romance kinda thing – OUCH!"

She gave his ear one final twist and released the youth. His ear was red while he rubbed it, but not even the pain could wipe the mischievous grin off his face. "I haven't seen him in six years," Ada said angrily, "and I wanted to see his reaction. He could have _killed _me, Kenny! By ruining my element of surprise –"

"Oh give it up!" he said, lighting up the cigarette he'd failed to smoke a few seconds earlier. "You're only pissed off because he didn't break out into tears of joy at the sight of you."

Ada brought her face close to his and spoke in a low, menacing tone.

"This is a serious mission, Kenny! You'd do well to remember to keep things professional and stop playing these childish games, and – wipe that grin OFF YOUR FACE!"

"LOV-ers," Kenny mouthed to her silently, with emphasis on the first syllable. Ada's eyes twitched with fury at the youth's attitude. She spun around on her heels, slit dress dancing around her ankles as she went, walking off somewhere deeper into the castle. Kenny stared off in the direction that Ada disappeared in, trying to figure the woman out.

Women were the most peculiar creature Kenny had ever come across. Everything was shade of gray to them. Nothing was definite. Especially when it came to men. Here Ada was, reunited with Leon after six long years of separation. Kenny wasn't there when they began whatever twisted relationship was bearing its ugly face to him now, but it was only natural that she would be glad he was alive. And when Kenny told Leon about her, Ada got mad and began babbling on about her "element of surprise."

Then there was Ashley Graham, the girl he befriended in Raccoon City when her father was in town on one of his political campaigns before he actually became President of the United States. She was here in this strange land, taken from her university against her will and as soon as Kenny showed up to comfort her, she starts acting like a poor confused little girl unsure whether or not he could be trusted based on a minor blemish on his personal record.

Even as far back as during his days in Raccoon City just before the viral outbreak, there was one of his closest friends in school, Lisa Hartley who began developing feelings for a boy far below her on a social scale and abandoned her friends and family for him. Yet she placed the blame on everyone else, on the uptown society as a whole, pressuring her to be someone she wasn't. All of that for a boy. She even left Kenny behind at the Raccoon Police Precinct to die at the hands of zombies while she sped away in her car with that boy, Jack Carpenter at her side …

Kenny bit hit lip hard, hoping the physical pain would push aside the bitter memories. That was years ago and it was due time that he left those events where they belonged. Raccoon City was little more than a pile of radioactive dust now, and it was by fluke chance that he managed to escape. Odds were that the backstabbing Lisa Hartley and her boy toy were now a part of the ashes that had long since settled into a gray, lifeless plateau in the midst of the Arklay Mountains.

"What the hell do you think you're doing sitting here?"

The voice jerked Kenny out of his thoughts and back into his painful reality. Krauser walked slowly, menacingly towards him, tossing a knife in one hand. But Kenny was tired of being scared. He had no energy left to give to entertain the fear. Now there was only resignation.

"Sorry, Krauser," Kenny apologized, "but I had a run in with the American Agent - again."

"You didn't kill him the first time," Krauser noted, "but you may be excused for that. I didn't know you knew Leon. But this is your second chance and you _still_ haven't put a bullet in his skull. This isn't why you were called here!"

"Funny," Kenny shot back, his tone laced with annoyance. "During the mission briefing back in the chopper, you said I was brought here to help steal the Las Plagas samples."

Krauser lunged out at Kenny with his hunting knife and stopped short of stabbing the boy in the throat. A small droplet of his blood gathered on the tip of the silver blade from where it pricked his skin.

"But I _do _recall you swearing to me that any other American you see besides myself dies by your hand," Krauser hissed.

Kenny didn't know how he did it, but the manner in which he replied felt like someone else's voice speaking for his true feelings at that exact moment. "You want to kill me?" he said softly. He was composed, completely accepting of the fact that he could die for what he was about to say, but he didn't care. "Whether I side with your or Leon, I'm gonna die anyway. So why don't you just end my misery and kill me now? Save me from making that choice."

Krauser sneered at the youth but didn't say anything. He didn't remove the blade from Kenny's throat either.

"What? Can't do it now?" Kenny taunted.

Krauser still didn't move.

"I said do it, you fucking pussy!" Kenny grabbed at the handle of the knife but Krauser retracted it swiftly and gave him a sharp spinning back punch, snapping his chin over his shoulder, throwing the youth off balance and onto his rear on the floor. Tears seeped from Kenny's eyes while pain stung viciously on his right cheek. He brought a hand to his face, but discovered that the skin burned more with even the softest touch. He heard something heavy and padded land at his feet, but his vision was too blurred to make out what it was.

"I'm going to the island to meet with Saddler," Krauser ordered, ignoring the aggression that had just transpired. "Use that to help you pull this mission off successfully. You have a personal contact waiting for you on the other end, available round the clock. Make it through this and I just might not kill you after it's all said and done. But you're getting real close." Krauser held his thumb and forefinger millimeters apart. "Real fucking close."

Had Kenny not been paying attention to his stinging face, he would have heard Krauser's footsteps fading into the distance. When it didn't hurt enough for him to open his eyes, he did so and was surprised to find the big man gone. His eyes still stung and the area around it felt bruised where Krauser's knuckle struck him. That would definitely leave a mark.

Kenny knew exactly what he did to earn himself that strike, but he didn't know _why _he did it in the first place. He could have very well gotten killed, though it made sense now that he didn't. He was obviously far more important to Krauser, or at least, to Krauser's superiors that his death now would earn them nothing after all the trouble they went through to take him from his university like they did to Ashley. Instead of being thankful for this slight fortune, he found himself curling up into a ball for the second time since his short visit here, his face between his knees, hands clasped over his head. And also for the second time, he wept, letting the hot tears further burn his bruised cheeks. He was surprised at how much tears he had to shed. They kept coming in salty torrents, the wet areas on his face turning to crust at the edges. But he cried on, dry heaving in between fits.

The only thought that ran through his mind was how much easier it would've been if he was dead. Then he wouldn't have to worry about how to save the life of those he cared about stuck in this cursed village, not to mention covering his own rear. He wouldn't have to worry about the mysterious Shadow Technology believed to be in his body, which, as Umbrella saw it, was their property.

Umbrella's property …

Kenny suddenly stopped weeping and held his head up. He sniffed back some thick snot, threatening to spill from his nostrils.

If Kenny was as precious to Umbrella as he understood, then they wouldn't let anything happen to him. If even if he was wrong and they could've cared less if he died, then his wish would be granted and he'd be saved from his horrible predicament. There was nothing to lose. He remembered Krauser saying something about a contact from Umbrella waiting for him before tossing something to him. Kenny would speak with the contact and arrange some transport for him and Ashley out of there.

No, that wouldn't work. It was under Umbrella's influence that Ashley was here in the first place.

Kenny chewed on a thumbnail as he formulated a plot in his mind to get himself off the island. He could lie to his contact and claim that he had the Plagas samples and then arrange for a flight off the island. Then he could leave Ashley in Leon's capable hands and make it back to civilization.

And be killed by Umbrella for lying?

As enticing as the idea of death was, it was only because he was in this predicament. Death wasn't a part of his plan if he ever made it out of this place. So lying to his contact about his success was a half-baked plan too.

A high pitched beep rang in Kenny's ears, catching his attention. At his feet lay what looked like a palm pilot with heavy duty padding, making the little electronic device a lot heavier than it had been designed. He picked it up and got a feel for the device, trying to figure out how to turn the beeping off. There was a large green button under the LCD screen that took up about half of the face plate. Kenny pressed it.

The image of a mousy brunette with large circular glasses blinked to life on the dark screen. Only her head and shoulders were revealed but Kenny was able to see just enough of her white collar to determine that she was wearing really large dress shirt, or a lab coat.

"Agent Rockfort-16320," the woman greeted sternly. But her voice was nasally to a comical level, and she squinted so hard at him that Kenny didn't know whether to laugh of stand erect in attention. "Come in, Agent Rockfort-16320."

"Uh, t-this is, uh, he," Kenny replied unsurely into the palm pilot device. It had been years since anyone referred to him by the operative name Umbrella had assigned to him all those years ago, during the 3 month period he spent in their care. When it came to Umbrella's covert operation agents, everyone was given a codename usually consisting of the name of the facility they were trained at followed by a five digit number. It was the more experienced agents that got to select their own codenames after a given number of years in service. Those agents had a habit of choosing odd and/or foreign names like Rodriguez, or Hunk. To protect their ambiguity, real names were never shared among the operatives. Such personal information was known only to the upper most levels of the company hierarchy. Complex as the practice was, this was only limited to Umbrella's secret operatives and not the Biohazard Countermeasure Service or their military.

"I trust Lieutenant Krauser has already briefed you on how I am to assist you," the mousy woman continued, her voice trembling as if to contain some kind of suppressed emotion.

Kenny thought back to Krauser's barking. "Yeah, I guess," he replied.

"Excellent," she replied shakily. Kenny thought he caught another human form jumping in the background, but it was too dark to tell properly.

"Where are you, exactly?" he asked, squinting into the screen.

"That is none of your concern, Agent," the woman snapped. Kenny wasn't an actor but he a master bullshitter and he could recognize bullshit from a mile away. There was something very obviously questionable about this woman. "What matters is that you get the job done and contact me immediately when you have secured the samples."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Oh, and from here on out, you can refer to me as Dr. H," the woman said. Her tone had mysteriously lost its cold, stern edge and had transformed completely into something warm and friendly. Kenny knew she'd been acting and this break in her composure had proven it. Dr. H seemed to have picked up on this as well as the screen suddenly blinked back into black. He wondered what was going on with that woman, know to be referred to as Dr. H, but decided he'd find out later- or not at all – he didn't care. Just as long as she could be his ticket out of here …

**XXXXX**

Dr. Clarissa Harlech slammed her palm on the power button of the camera as soon as she caught her slip up in character. Dread filled the pit of her stomach and rose to her throat. After all the trouble she and the others went through to get to this mysterious Umbrella Agent, it would be a very, _very_ bad thing if he were to catch onto her and discover where her alliances really lay.

Dr. Harlech adjusted her glasses, pushing them higher to the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath, telling herself it was going to be okay. She was just going to have to get better at this role as an Umbrella Agent. She was a legitimate employee of the company once six years ago, and she could pull it off again, even if it was just pretend this time around … even if she worked as a mere chemist in their scientific community last time and now, she was supposedly a commander in Umbrella's Military Branch. She wondered if there were any tips of staying in character in the "Acting for Dummies" book she had bought on sale just a few days ago specifically for this mission.

She felt a warm hand on her shoulder. "You know, I probably could have done a better job with the kid," a friendly voice said. Dr. Harlech looked up to see Renée Lavalle, a tallish girl in her mid-twenties, light brown hair reaching down to her small but compact shoulders. Renée was the complete opposite of Dr. Harlech's clumsy habits though one wouldn't get the impression by simply looking at her. She didn't look like she could hurt a fly, but her body was slim and toned from years of exercise as a teenager. "All I'd have to do to keep in character was imitate Christina." Renée grimaced at the memory of her former supervisor.

"Yes, but you could have never hacked into Umbrella's systems the way I did," Dr. Harlech boasted.

"I wonder what the _real_ Umbrella operative assigned to the kid is thinking right now," Renée giggled.

"I don't know," Dr. Harlech shrugged, "but we're in and it'll only be a matter of time before Umbrella catches on."

"Right," Renée nodded. "So what's the plan? He's working for Umbrella and he's got to think when we go pick him up, he's coming BACK to Umbrella."

"I told him to contact me as soon as he obtained the samples."

"What samples?"

Dr. Harlech shrugged. "I dunno, but most of Umbrella's missions involving covert operation agents involve sample retrieval of some kind, right?"

"I don't like this," Renée said. "What are they retrieving this time?"

"I suppose we'll find out soon enough," Dr. H replied just as nervously. "What if the kid resists once he finds out we're not really with Umbrella?"

"We'll have to take him out. Only the higher ups in Umbrella's old hierarchy had access to covert operative agents' personal information, right? If you can hack in there, get us his name, use it on him, then it'll add to the illusion that we're really with Umbrella and …

"No …" Dr. Harlech and Renée both turned around to see their companion leaning against the filing cabinets, looking as if she had just seen a spider. Her red hair was tangled, blue eyes wide with shock, her breathing slow and labored.

"Amber!" Renée cried, rushing over to the stunned woman's side in a single bound while Dr. Harlech clambered over piles of paper and equipment in their cramped little office. "Amber, what's wrong?" Renée shook her friend's shoulder lightly.

Amber Bernstein, formerly of the Raccoon City Police Department turned her head slowly to look at Renée, her eyes brimming with tears of what looked like hope or relief.

"He won't resist us," Amber said.

"No," Renée agreed, "not if we find out his name and use it to convince him that we're really …"

"Kenny won't resist us," Amber repeated, "he'll come running to us, I'm sure of it."

"You know him?" Dr. Harlech cried.

Amber nodded quickly, forcing herself not to cry out in relief. "He was a volunteer at the Raccoon Precinct," she said, unable to stop the tears spilling down her cheeks nor the smile spreading across her face, "a good boy with a good head on his shoulders. I thought he died but did you see how he's grown?" She shook her head in disbelief.

"That's definitely good news, Amber," Dr. Harlech said, putting a hand over her friend's.

"Kenny's alive." Amber couldn't stop repeating it. He was yet another addition to the ever growing list of the Raccoon City disaster survivors. "Kenny's alive …"


	11. Chapter 8: Teamwork

**Author's Note:** _This chapter here is originally 15 pages long of size 10 font, and its not even finished yet. So to update sooner, I decided to take the first scene, which is 7 pages on on its own, and make a whole chapter. The following 8 or so pages will be up shortly. _

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Kenny didn't know how long he had been wandering the castle for. It could've been five minutes, or five hours. His sense of time was rendered useless by the thoughts and ideas that came to him, piecing them together so that they formed a foolproof plan to get him out of here alive. The only reason he decided to let Krauser bring him to his godforsaken town was so he could keep Ashley safe. But Leon was here now, and he was far better equipped at protecting Ashley. Kenny's sense of loyalty screamed for him to stay here and guard his friend, but his more rational side told him the bare facts. Ashley had Leon as a bodyguard. Kenny had none. His situation was more desperate and would therefore have to put his own safety now before that of another. Ashley, wherever she was, was safe.

"Kenny?"

He snapped back to reality. He immediately took notice of his surroundings, the images rushing at him. There was a marble floor in a circular room about two stories high. There was an elevated platform resting on long, elaborately carved pillars of Roman influence. The sharp tang of incense floated in the air. And trapped against a wall with thick metal bars across her body was …

"Ashley!"

Moving quickly around the second story platform's supporting pillars, Kenny darted for his friend, who struggled from underneath her restraints. But the metal bars were screwed to the ancient brick walls with industrial sized bolts. In his panic, Kenny didn't calculate first if he could physically remove the restrains and just went straight for them. He grasped the bars with his bare hands and tugged.

"They're not giving," Ashley said, sounding like she was about to cry.

"No, no, just keep still and …" Kenny placed a foot on the wall and continued struggling against the bars. His face turned red, sweat began forming on his forehead. And few fruitless tugs and he gave up, falling on his rear, breathing heavily. He wiped a hand across his forehead and looked at Ashley, held in a standing position by her restraints, unable to move into a sitting position like he was.

"Isn't there anything we could use?" she asked weakly. She sounded as if she was losing hope.

"We can't use my handgun," Kenny explained, "cause my aim's not that great so if I shoot you …" Ashley agreed, biting her lower lip and nodding at him earnestly with wide eyes. He looked around the room for anything they could use. There were a few low lying cabinets he searched, but all he found inside were strange crystals and local money. It was probably where the rich owners kept their stashes of currency. Resting on the cabinets were old decrepit looking porcelain vases that smelled like dust. Kenny thumped a knuckle on each to find they contained nothing.

"Anything?" Ashley asked.

Kenny shook his head. "No."

She sighed.

"Sorry, Ash."

"No, don't worry about it. Leon's probably on his way to find me."

"What happened to you?" Kenny asked. "When I saw Leon last, you weren't with him."

"So then he is looking for me."

"Yeah, and since he led you out safely from when the villagers attacked you guys en masse, I'm thinking he'll find you. But what I want to know is …"

Ashley jumped suddenly, as if shocked. "How did you know we were attacked?"

"Krauser told me," he replied, as if it should have been an obvious answer. "And when I heard, I got real worried about you, especially after seeing Leon without you by his side."

"He didn't tell you what happened to me?"

"No." Kenny thought back to his conversation with Leon on the mezzanine looking over the garden labyrinth. "We had issues of our own to discuss."

"Other than my safety?" Ashley exclaimed, appalled by the suggestion that she wasn't the highest priority in the castle.

"You're not the only person in this castle in danger, Ash," Kenny said. "Leon is, and so am I."

"I know, I know," Ashley apologized, "and I'm sorry. You're probably just as scared as I am, Kenny."

"You have no idea."

"I get to sit here and play the pretty damsel in distress, and get used as bait. All I get to do is sit down, get locked up and let out the occasional scream."

"While I get to run around and fight a trained government agent, or the bad guys kill you. Or Leon kills me. Or both. And if I choose not to, the bad guys kill me AND you." Kenny chuckled bitterly and threw his hands up in the air. "No pressure here."

"So what are you going to do?" Ashley chewed on a strand of her chin length blonde hair.

Kenny let out a nervous laugh. "This is gonna make me sound like such an asshole but …"

"But …"

"I'm leaving you with Leon."

"Kenny!"

"Wait, let me finish –"

"You're just gonna leave me here with a bunch of crazy villagers and let them do whatever they want to me?"

"Of course not! Leon's gonna make sure you're okay. It's his job, right? So I'm just gonna leave it to him. And there's one thing I know, he'll get it done, if there's one thing that guy takes seriously."

"You're right," Ashley agreed. "I don't want you sticking around here protecting me especially if you don't have to. I'm won't have you hurt on my accord, especially now that I don't need you to be."

"That's what I mean," he continued. "My whole reason for being here is … well … Leon's presence nulls it."

A moment of silence fell, giving them both an opportunity to absorb what they had said to each other. Ashley was resting her weight against the restraints, leaning her head forward, welcoming the change in position. There weren't many ways she could move, bound like that. Her lower back pressed against the wall and she moved a little, scratching an itchy spot there against the brick. Kenny sat on the ground, resting his head against the Roman pillars, knees hugged to his chest as he stared blankly at Ashley.

She raised her head slowly and made eye contact with him from between the strands of hair that draped over her eyes. "One thing I have to ask you," she began, "was how you managed to convince Leon that you weren't really with the bad guys."

"So he's asked you about me?"

"More like he told me about you," she replied angrily, "and how you tried to kill him. I couldn't believe you'd try to do something like that."

"Because back there, I thought the Agent would complicate things. I was going to formulate a plan to get us out of here."

Ashley let out an exasperated sigh. "Sounds like a bad explanation to me, like you were really wanting to keep me here."

"Well it's not something I just cooked up. It's the truth."

"I'm just surprised you managed to walk away from that alive. I've seen Leon tackle these villagers. He's not some guy who took karate classes, Kenny. He's one of my father's top men."

"I know, and I've got the bruises to prove it."

"Which brings me to my next question. Bruises. You walked away with mere bruises. How? If Leon was doing his job properly, you'd be as dead as anyone who's tried to touch me. And just now, you were saying that Leon would protect me, if there was one thing you knew about him. You know something about him. You _know_ him."

"Ashley …" Kenny didn't know how to explain and let his sentence fade until Ashley got frustrated.

"Come on, out with it," the President's daughter insisted. "You know him, don't you?"

"It wasn't obvious?"

She shook her head vigorously. "I tried asking him if you were okay, what he did to you just before he came and rescued me from the store room in the church. All he said was that you were fine. I brought the question up a little later, why he didn't try pursuing you, why he let you live, but he wouldn't answer me."

"Geez, Ash, anyone would think you'd WANT me dead."

"Don't be ridiculous. You know I don't. But if Leon had been performing his duties properly, you'd be dead. Any other Agent sent by my father would've killed you too since with the role you're playing in all this, you'd be considered a terrorist. And because he didn't, that raised some questions. So now, I want them answered."

Kenny smirked at her. "You're sure not talking like a damsel in distress right now."

"Don't change the subject," she snapped.

"I'm just surprised you haven't figured it out yet. What similar experience have Leon and I gone through to have met?"

Ashley pouted in thought, and her widened eyes told Kenny that she'd figured it out. "You're not talking about surviving Raccoon City, are you?"

"I was one of the survivors who escaped with Leon. Well, just a few minutes before he did, really. We helped each other out on a few occasions up until we made our escape."

"Comrades then, if you will."

Kenny nodded. "Yes."

"That explains it." Ashley looked away, disappearing into thought. "That's why you've escaped him unscathed."

"Umm, my bruises?"

"What are the chances that you two would end up on opposite ends of the same battle?"

"I wouldn't question your father's decision in sending him," Kenny advised. "Leon wasn't expecting to find me here. And to be honest I wasn't expecting him either. I'm sure your father wants the best for you, and for this situation, Leon _is _the best."

"Kenny, if you continue fighting along the bad guys, you risk getting hurt by Leon. And I … I don't want that happening. Leon doesn't want to have to end up hurting you, or killing you. But we both know he will if he has to."

"Not if I kill him first, right? You know at the church, I managed to distract him with nothing more than a Molotov cocktail and I could've shot him on the spot."

"I can't believe I'm hearing this …!"

"Settle down, I'm just joking," Kenny chuckled. I was nice to laugh for once in a long while, even though it was partially driven by insanity. "But I could have killed him there and then. I can fight. I'm not some incapable kid like you, Ash."

Kenny meant no offense to Ashley. He was merely stating the facts the way he saw it, but her deep frown aimed at his general direction was anything but civil. He was saved from a verbal beating with a loud crash on the upper balcony that caught both of their attentions. The expression on Ashley's face turned from anger to terror in less than a second. She begged Kenny silently to do something, and he wanted to comply, but he had no ideas. Acting on an instinct ingrained into him during his time spent training at Umbrella's Rockfort facility, he withdrew his handgun and ran over to Ashley, standing protectively in front of her.

Light footsteps padded on the stone floor of the balcony far above their heads on the second story.

"Who is that up there?" Ashley whispered so quietly, Kenny could have sworn he had to hear through the beating of her heart to understand what she was saying.

"I don't know," he replied, a little louder than her, but still in a barely audible whisper. "Don't make a sound. Maybe they'll go away."

"What if it's Leon?"

Kenny suddenly put eyes hand over Ashley's eyes, blinding her in an instant. "Hey, what's the big idea?"

"Don't … move …"

"Oh God, something's there, isn't it?" Ashley cried softly. She began to sob as quietly as she could. Kenny could feel the wetness of her tears on his palm, still held over her eyes.

Something was there indeed standing on the second floor balcony, and from where Kenny stood on the first floor, he had a clear view of it. It was the man he saw at the church, the same hooded man with the dark, sunken eyes and pale face. It was Lord Saddler himself, the very man Krauser needed to befriend to get his hands on the Las Plagas samples. Krauser said he was going to the island to meet Lord Saddler, but clearly he wasn't going to find him there.

More footsteps. Kenny jerked his head in their general direction and had trouble pinpointing where they were coming from. But in this huge hollow space, the footsteps echoed off just about everything. Then he heard the voices speaking softly. Kenny strained his ears to make out what they were saying but it was no use. They were too far above his head. There was more than one person up there, and whoever it was, Kenny hoped they had Lord Saddler's attention, as opposed to him and Ashley.

A large, organic tendril suddenly sprouted from Saddler's body, taking on a life of its own. It snaked around his torso and shot forward at whatever was standing in front of him, outside of Kenny's view. Kenny couldn't see what it had come into contact with, but the sound of cracked bone, tearing flesh and the pathetic yelp of a man told him all he needed to know.

Kenny let a surprised gasp escape his lips and slapped his other hand over his mouth. Ashley heard the gory sounds too, and felt Kenny jerk in reaction to what happened, and she began to sob even harder.

"I'm going to die … I'm going to die …"

"Ashley, quiet," Kenny urged.

But she went on, ignoring him. "I'm going to die … I'm going to die …" Ashley started to cry and Kenny had to move his hand from her eyes to her mouth.

"I said, be quiet!" he said harshly. "I don't want them noticing us."

But even as he said this, he saw Saddler reach out and catch something in his hand. Kenny was much too far to tell what it was, but something told him it was his ticket off the island – a Las Plagas sample. It was more of a feeling than an actual realization. He hoped Krauser would reach Saddler soon. There was no way Kenny could get up there from down here to steal it from him.

He looked back at Ashley, her mouth still smothered by his hand as she protested violently.

"Sorry," Kenny apologized, removing it. "I think he's gone."

"Who was that man?" Ashley asked. "It looked like you knew him too."

"Nobody important," Kenny fibbed. If Ashley could read his mind, she would have caught the blatant lie.

"Somebody died up there," Ashley said, tipping her chin upwards to the second level balcony. "I heard it."

"I heard it too," Kenny agreed. "You don't think that could've been Leon, do you? I heard the voice …"

"Oh God, I did too … Don't tell me Leon is …"

Kenny immediately regretted putting the idea in her head, as Ashley began to scream loudly.

"LEON! HELP!!" She cried loudly, sobbing hard, hoping that her voice alone could bring him back from the dead. "LEOOOON!!"

As Ashley's voice rang throughout the expansive space, the realization of Leon's abrupt death mere seconds ago had sunk in rather difficultly. Along with his life, went Kenny's hope of escaping this place in one piece. With Leon dead, it was up to Kenny to protect Ashley and get her out of here. But was he willing to betray Krauser, lie to his Umbrella contact and escape with Ashley? He certainly wouldn't be doing any favors for himself or the President's daughter if his contact was to find out he was lying about the mission status, just to get out of here. What could he do? Playing along with Krauser's game was the plan that sounded the safest but ...

"Kenny! Ashley!"

The two youths looked up and beheld a familiar sight. Donning a charcoal T-shirt, dark blue pants, brandishing a mean looking sniping rifle stood Leon S. Kennedy in the flesh, alive and well, standing on the elevated platform. Kenny rationalized that the platform must have been an extension of the second level balcony.

"Leon!" the pair of university students cried in unison. Kenny waved his hands excitedly while Ashley continued to struggle against her restraints.

"Leon, I can't remove the restraints!" Kenny hollered, cupping his hands around his mouth. "They're bolted to the wall."

"What do you have on you?" the government agent asked him.

"Just a handgun."

"Not strong enough to blow the restrains off," Leon replied, loading up his sniper rifle. "Step out of the way, Kenny. Let me handle this." He crouched down on a knee, shouldered the rifle, and aimed. Kenny was too happy to oblige and step well away from Ashley, who looked at him with worried eyes.

"Don't worry," he assured her. "Leon's aiming is –"

**BANG!!**

"AAAHH!!" Ashley screamed with all her might. Kenny opened his eyes and realized only then that hey had been closed and noticed that the first of the three restraints across Ashley's body had been blown off, freeing her arms and now lay in on the floor in a heap of scrap metal. The scream that rang in Kenny's ears was made up of two voices – one belonging to Ashley, and the other his own.

"Pipe down, both of you!" Leon ordered sternly as he took aim for the second time. "Stop moving your arms, Ashley, and hold still!"

Ashley obeyed and two more shots from Leon's rifle followed, each bullet hitting their mark perfectly. The remaining restraints fell from place and joined the first with a loud clang on the marble floor. Ashley, savoring her new found freedom, flexed her arms by her sides and stretched her knees. She looked up at Leon and smiled, giving him a silent expression of gratitude.

But her relief was short lived as suddenly, a chorus of whispers, barely audible from before, grew in volume and in number. Ashley spun around, trying to place the source of the voices. On his feet now, Kenny looked around in equal confusion trying to place the source of the strange whisper. From up above, Leon's expression did little to comfort the two youths.

"Leon?" Ashley cried, her voice trembling with fear.

"What is that sound …" Kenny began but suddenly found himself knocked off his feet. He flailed his arms in a vain attempt to catch his balance, but smacked into the ground hard enough for him to wince. Rubbing his shoulder, he rolled onto his back to see a large hooded figure standing over him, a white painted face staring at him from underneath the hood of a large robe of a devilish looking monk. The only thing un-monk like about the figure aside from the creepy face paint was the fact that it held a sharp mace its hand, swinging it above his head, ready to crash it down onto Kenny's head.

He let out a yelp and rolled quickly to the side, letting the mace crash into the marble where his head was not even a second ago, feeling the chipped stone scrape the back of his head. His gun cocked and ready for use, Kenny aimed at the monk's head and pulled the trigger, putting a hole in the center of the monk's forehead. Its body fell backwards like a bookcase toppling over, giving Kenny time to scramble to his feet. Looking around, he saw Ashley not having moved from her spot, crouched down and screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Help me!" she wailed.

Kenny dashed for her but was blocked off by two more robed figures, equally creepy as the one he just took down. One held a crossbow in its grip, ready to fire at his chest at almost point blank range. Kenny quickly ducked beneath the raised weapon and brought his palm upwards directly beneath the jaw of its wielder, shattering the bone in a single well placed strike. The monk reeled back and blood sprayed at Kenny from its mouth. The weapon clattered to the floor harmlessly. The companion, this one with its hood drawn back, held a large wooden shield in its hand and charged at Kenny. The impact knocked the youth off his feet and back onto the ground. The unhooded monk came down on him with a series of stomps. It had only managed to connect two; one to Kenny's chest, and the other to his injured shoulder, before its head exploded in a crimson fountain from a bullet delivered by Leon's rifle.

Kenny got onto his feet again for the second time in a few seconds, this time a little shakily, wincing from the pain in his chest and shoulder and gave Leon a silent nod of gratitude. He spotted another robed figure, this one in red, hoisting Ashley onto his shoulder as she screamed in protest, hitting at its back pathetically with clenched fists.

"LEOON!" she wailed. "HEEELP!"

"Hang on, Ashley!" he cried back. Kenny limped to her aid but was hindered by his injuries. Leon had them covered though, aiming again with his rifle, firing a round into the red robe's calf, causing him to stumble and drop Ashley. She hit the ground and recovered by rolling, coincidentally towards Kenny. He helped her to her feet.

"Get behind me!" he said, taking aim at a trio of black robes, all of them hooded, walking menacingly towards them. He shot a glance up at Leon on the platform, desperately trying to take out the red robe, who was surprisingly resilient despite another shot to the abdomen.

"These things aren't human!" Kenny cried.

"It takes more than one shot to get them down," Ashley agreed, pressing herself to Kenny's back.

Kenny took aim with his handgun and shot the trio of black robes, but their bodies ate his bullets as if the were little more than thrown pebbles. The gap between the trio and the two youths was closing rapidly.

"Leon, I'm gonna need some help here!" Kenny cried, rapidly emptying his magazine into the bodies of their attackers with little success despite the accurate shots.

"Head shots!" he replied from above. "Shoot them in the head."

Kenny obeyed and fired a round into the closest robe's brow. The monk screamed and clawed at its face. Taking advantage of the temporary impairment, Kenny threw his body into the air, throwing his leg out in a jumping roundhouse kick, knocking it to the floor. He considered this method to saving what little ammunition he had left. He repeated the tactic, this time shooting the second monk in the left eye. The reaction was the same – screams of pain allowing him to move in with a punch to the head. He leaned into the punch, having the full weight of his body behind his strike, flooring the second attacker.

"Way to go!" Ashley cheered from behind Kenny.

"Third time's a charm," he noted, taking aim at the last monk coming for them, only to hear the empty barrel click. He pulled the trigger again but his handgun was fresh out of ammunition. The monk came at him and Ashley with a fling of its mace. Kenny pushed Ashley to the ground, and joined her there, both of them rolling to safety in opposite directions, Kenny moving swiftly towards the cross bow. He seized the weapon just as the monk was struggling to pick up Ashley and throw her over its shoulder, and fired a trio of arrows into its back, buttocks and right calf. It fell to the ground, taking Ashley with it. She scrambled away from the fallen attacker towards Kenny as it was getting up, showing no signs of pain from the arrows embedded into its body.

Leon took charge then, blowing its head clean off with a single shot. Kenny and Ashley's gazes darted around the room for anymore of the mysterious robed monks, and much to their relief, spotted none. The three of them took a moment to collect their breaths in the newly secure room with nothing but the sound of their heavy breathing to fill the giant, hollow space.

It was Leon who broke the silence.

"I don't know if you kids noticed," he said, "but it looks like the red robe's the head honcho of this little battalion we just took out."

"What does it matter? We killed them all, right?" Kenny asked.

"Yeah," Leon agreed. "This rifle's got a great magnifying scope attached to the barrel. And you most likely didn't see it, but the guy in red seems to have something important hanging around his neck. Check it out for me, will you?"

Ashley and Kenny stepped towards the fallen figure hesitantly, both of them swallowing dry lumps in their throat. He took her hand in his and they both headed slowly towards the dead monk – or so they hoped he was dead.

"Take all the time you need," Leon noted sarcastically from the upper level.

"You're not the one who has to come into physical contact with some freaky cult corpse who eats bullets for breakfast," Kenny shot back bitterly.

It was Ashley who took the initiative to dash towards the body and swipe the pendant from the corpse's neck with one fluid motion. She ran back to Kenny, the prize glittering in her hands. They both examined it. It was a gold pendant shaped like a key, with precious gems embedded in the handle.

"What is it?" Leon asked.

"Why don't you use that magnifying scope and look for yourself?" Kenny joked.

"I got no time for games," Leon said, slapping a hand to his forehead. "Just tell me what it is."

"It looks like a key," Kenny replied.

"Do you think it can get us out of here?" Ashley asked.

"There's only one door," Kenny said, "the one I got here through. It was unlocked. We wouldn't need a key …"

They made their way over to the only door leading out of the room, hoping to make it to the second level and join Leon. Ashley tried the handle and turned, surprised to find that it wasn't giving beneath her strength. "It's locked!" she cried in dismay.

"What?" Kenny joined her and struggled with the handle. "She's right, Leon, it's no use. The door's not giving."

"Um, the key?" Leon suggested.

They tried the key, and it unlocked with a resounding click, much to their relief. "Those bastards tried to lock us in here while they slaughtered us," Kenny noted.

"Hang on, Leon," Ashley said, "we're coming up to join you."

"Watch out for her, Kenny!" Leon ordered. "Don't let Ashley out of your sight! Are you listening to me?"

"Yeah, yeah," he replied, waving Leon off before the two of them disappeared behind the door.


	12. Chapter 9: Knights of the Living Dead

First Daughter Ashley Graham was a far cry from the current environment that had swallowed her and Kenny up. He glanced at her, realizing this with amusement. Thin framed with a reasonable amount of fat and muscle, narrow shoulders from which hung a brown sweater over an orange sleeveless turtleneck, and a wide waist displaying a plaid skirt hanging to her knees, she well represented the upper class society she was from. Had she been living in Raccoon City, Ashley would have easily taken the position of most popular girl in the tenth grade from Julie Wilberforce. She presently walked in a hunched position behind Kenny, shining a flashlight for him to see the way in front of them.

"This is kinda fun, isn't it?" Kenny asked with a sly grin on his face. "Feels like we're walking through the haunted house attraction during the summer fair."

Ashley slapped him on the back, a sign for him to shut up. "Only this one's real!"

From the door they entered by, the corridor opened up into a room with bookshelves lining the walls and some tables supporting kerosene lamps that provided some lighting. Kenny heard Ashley click off the flashlight as they walked in. The left wall took up about half the length of the room, stopping for a large barred gate. Kenny spotted a crank against the wall.

"Betcha that thing opens the gate," he said. "It's the only exit from this room other than the one we came in.

"Let's give it a shot," Ashley agreed.

And then something jumped out at them from their blind spot, something pale with dark eyes, dressed in a hooded cloak. The monk wrapped its bony fingers around Kenny's head and picked up him with inhuman strength. He kicked back desperately at his attacker, the toes of his shoes colliding with the monk just below the ribcage. But it was like kicking a brick wall. The monk's body absorbed his blows without so much as a tremble and continued to hold him up as it attempted to crush his head between its palms.

"Help …" he managed to gasp out.

With his fading vision, Kenny spotted Ashley dash for a kerosene lamp. She picked it up and hurled it at the monk, setting its robes aflame, causing it to drop Kenny. The youth backed away towards a bookcase while the monk staggered towards him, apparently fighting off the searing flames.

"Ashley, take care of the crank!" Kenny ordered. "I've got this fucker!"

While Ashley began turning the crank like there was no tomorrow, Kenny grabbed hold of the bookcase and sent it tumbling down on the burning monk. It fell, hitting its target with a grunt and a few thuds of falling books and joints colliding with the stone floor. Kenny leapt onto the back of the bookcase and began jumping up and down with all his might.

"Eat!" Jump.

"Shit!" Jump.

"You!" Jump.

"Motherfucker!" Jump, jump, jump.

"Haha!" Ashley laughed at him as she continued turning the crank. "Pull that off at _The Razor _and the ladies will be all over you," she teased, referring to the on campus pub at their university.

The gate was raised as wide as it would go and settled into the ceiling with a loud, final metallic groan.

"Come on, let's go!" Ashley said, waving him over.

Kenny jumped on the bookcase one final time and leapt off, running after Ashley.

"I would pull that off at The Razor," he said when he caught up, "but I wouldn't want to make you jealous." He winked at her, but it only earned him a short elbow jab to the ribs. "Ouch! Whoa, I joke, I joke …"

They walked through the gate that Ashley had recently opened, and it had parted way to reveal a short tunnel that led to another room similar to the first. There were more tables and more bookshelves. The path out was blocked, this time by horizontal and vertical bars. Kenny instantly spotted a pair of cranks flanking the bars.

"You've got to be joking me," he said, slapping a hand to his forehead. Ashley let out an exasperated sigh that complimented his frustration.

"Looks like we'll be handling this one together," she said. "One of us to a crank."

"What about our religious friend?" Kenny asked, tipping his head towards a monk in standing in the center of the room with its back turned to them, completely oblivious to their presence.

"Send him back to hell," Ashley replied.

The two of them dashed into the room, feet pounding the stone floor as they ran. Hearing the footsteps, the monk spun around and spotted them sprinting for it. The monk, with outstretched hands, ran to crash into the two of them, but Ashley and Kenny fanned out, the monk passing between them. They each seized a kerosene lamp resting on the room's multiple tables and came back together, trapping the attacker between them. Trapped between the youths, unsure of which one to attack first, the monk's glance danced back and forth between them. Kenny and Ashley screamed in unison and each raised their respective lamps above their head, sending the fragile, flammable lighting devices down on the monk, burning it alive.

The smell of burning human flesh filled the musty castle air. Ashley covered her mouth and nose with her hands and frown in protest. For Kenny, the smell brought back memories of the viral outbreak, of the walking dead, unaware of the fire searing their infected bodies. Kenny's recollection lasted momentarily, but it felt like an eternity and he was pulled back into reality by Ashley's voice.

"That other crank isn't going to turn by itself," she said bitterly. Ashley was already positioned by the crank to the left of the gates, and was motioning with quick tilting motions of her head for Kenny to assume her mirrored position on the right.

"Alright, let's do this," Kenny said.

The youths began turning the cranks at the same rate, slowly at first, and slowly picking up as they gained momentum. The horizontal and vertical bars began receding into the side and top of the exit corridor respectively, filling the room with their loud, rusty groans.

Making their way slowly through the corridor, they could feel their hearts sagging when they discovered a smaller room, one that could barely contain five people comfortably. There was a blue metal door on the left with an elaborate crest carved into it and on the right, the room continued toward another door.

"Left," said Kenny.

"Right," Ashley countered at the exact moment.

"Rock."

"Paper."

"Scissors. Scissors cut paper. Left it is."

Ashley rolled her eyes and followed Kenny through the insignia door. They stepped into yet another room, right onto a raised platform that led down about two steps towards a dais at the far end. They approached the dais cautiously, wary of any monks that may be hiding around the numerous pieces of old furnishing that might ambush them, but there were none; just the dais with a handle sticking out from its side.

"Looks like we might be able to turn this thing," Ashley said, resting her hands on the handle. She pushed against it but the dais wouldn't turn. She bit her lower lip and leaned against it with all her weight and pushed with all the strength in her arms, but it still wouldn't give.

"Maybe you're turning it the wrong way," Kenny said, taking his place on the opposite side of the handle. Ashley stepped away from the dais and watched. A few grunts of effort, heavy breathing, strained muscles and more than a handful of unprintable curses later, Kenny decided that he wasn't going to be able to move the dais either.

"Any other ideas?" he asked Ashley.

"God, I don't know. I thought this would be our way out of here but instead, we run into some damn thing that's supposed to turn and lead us somewhere and we're not even strong enough to …" She stopped talking suddenly.

"Oh no, there's something behind me, isn't there?" Kenny asked, taking note of her silence. He spun around to see what was being him but only saw the brick wall. But Ashley hadn't moved from her spot, her gaze fixed tightly onto the dais.

"What's that indentation on head?" she asked rhetorically, pointing. Her finger guided Kenny's gaze to the subject of her observation. There were vertical scratch marks on the walls of the circular hollow in the top of the dais.

"What so special about that?"

"Something goes in there," Ashley observed. "See those scratches? Something was put in there regularly over time, often enough for those scratches to form."

"How do you know its not just bad wood that cracks easily? I mean have you looked where we are? An ancient castle for crying out loud!"

"The scratches are too uniform, and too evenly spaced to be an act of nature. There's something artificial about them, something man-made. And I bet you whatever fits in there is hidden somewhere in here."

"Not bad observation," Kenny noted.

"Uh, hello?" Ashley said, tapping her forehead with a manicured finger. "Forensics major, criminology minor you're talking to here."

"More like C.S.I. addict," Kenny retorted.

"So I was right after all. We were supposed to head right."

"Fine, Miss I'm-such-a-fucking-forensic-genius. Why don't you go ahead and find us that piece and I'll stay here and hold the fort?"

"Kenny, you are NOT letting me go alone!" Ashley said so sternly, Kenny felt that it'd be a death wish to disagree.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming," he sighed.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

A black screen stared back at Dr. Harlech, completely neutral, taking in her anxiety, her nervousness, her sweaty glare and reflecting nothing back. Her right index finger inched towards the power button of the monitor, to turn it on and establish contact with their precious, newly found Umbrella contact.

Over the past few months, word through the grapevine was that Umbrella loyalists were up to no good again. Exact details varied depending on which anti-Umbrella faction they were heard from, but they all had one thing in common – the officially defunct scientific/military organization responsible for the destruction of Sheena Island, Rockfort Island, a mysterious explosion in the Antarctic and most famously, Raccoon City, was anything but defunct.

Dr. Harlech and her two teammates, Renée Lavalle formerly of Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service, and Amber Bernstein, formerly of the Raccoon City Police department had followed multiple leads on mysterious activities occurring globally, hoping to find any trace of the elusive company who could _possibly _be involved somehow. The previous year brought them no luck. But they continued to pursue Umbrella, without any solid proof that the company was active at all.

Then came the sudden disappearances of two students from the University of Michigan. Normally, Dr. Harlech and her team wouldn't have bothered with kidnappings. Only with this specific case, one of the students happened to be the First Daughter. No information was given about the second student, other than the fact that local authorities were looking into his personal history.

Amber sat at an adjacent computer console hunched over, red hair covering her face, shoulders hunched, as if trying to avoid any eye contact. She was doing a good job, but that would save her from the questions Dr. Harlech wanted to ask, but had refrained from doing so initially, noticing Amber's reluctance to talk. But Amber's behavior hadn't changed since she laid eyes on the Umbrella Agent. She knew something and seemed hesitant to talk about it. Well if she wasn't going to say anything, then Dr. Harlech would.

"How did you know his name?" she asked, cutting the long silence off. It had been a few minutes since either of them had said anything, but it had felt like an eternity given the tense situation, and Dr. Harlech's clarity, or lack thereof, about her colleague.

Amber didn't say anything in response, so Dr. Harlech pushed a little further. "The Michigan State Police gave you a fraction of the information they've managed to gather regarding the case. They told you Umbrella was involved, and that the other student who disappeared had ties to the company. Why didn't you say they gave you his identity as well?"

"They didn't," Amber replied. Dr. Harlech waited for more from the ex-police officer but wasn't rewarded with anything more for her patience.

Dr. Harlech felt sweat form on her face and head, making her scalp itch. She scratched at it through the wig she was wearing, apparently having forgotten to take it off after contact with the Agent was closed. She peeled it off her head, letting her natural blonde hair fall out from under the brunette wig in a heavy mass.

"Then how do you know him?" she asked, running her fingers through her hair.

"I told you," Amber continued, "he was a volunteer at the Raccoon Police Department. He worked long hours and always with a smile on his face. His name was … his name _is _Kenneth Feng. Fifteen years old at the time; pleasant, respectful, everything a mother would want their son to be."

"A momma's boy?"

"He had no mother," Amber elaborated, "and no father either. Just an orphan living off funds from his rich uncle. It's a miracle he turned out the way he did. But now …" Amber lifted her head and looked over her shoulder at Dr. Harlech.

"But now …?" she asked, hoping Amber would continue her train of thought. She did.

"He's with Umbrella and I can't understand why!" Amber declared in frustration. "Kenny could never hurt a fly. Once, when one of the S.T.A.R.S. members violently attacked Officer Elran from the boys crime department, Kenny was there and saw the damage. He nearly passed out from the shock of Elran's bruises."

"Just bruises, huh?"

"There wasn't even any blood," Amber said, shaking her head. "How could a kid like that turn into a professional killer working for Umbrella? I don't believe it, Clarissa, I don't believe it for a second!"

"Was Raccoon the last time you saw him?" Dr. Harlech asked.

"And I thought he died along with everyone else," Amber replied.

Dr. Harlech approached Amber and laid a warm, gentle hand on her shoulder. "Well six years is a long time for someone to change, especially when we're talking about a teenager here."

"I know, I know," Amber said, burying her face in her hands, "but this is a complete 180. Maybe he doesn't know Umbrella was behind Raccoon's demise. Maybe he went to them because he heard how well they treated their employers and, I dunno, worked for them for food and shelter or something."

"That's sounds like a perfectly reasonable explanation to me."

"But why would they hire someone like him?" Amber countered herself. "What qualifications does Kenny have? He was a high school kid at the time! God, we should have been more honest with him, Clarissa. We should have told him everything."

"It's okay, Amber," Dr. H said, patting her friend on the shoulder. "That wouldn't have done any good anyway."

"He begged to know what was going on. Always asking questions, wanting to get in on the scoop. Nobody told him. We all thought he was just some kid with good intentions, trying to take on more responsibilities he could handle just to prove himself to us. And now look what Kenny's become."

"Well, we're not going to find any answers just sitting here, now are we? Now that we've found him, let's just continue to play this game, see the mission through to its end. We'll get your answers then."

Amber let out an exasperated sigh. "You're right. Let's do it."

Dr. H left Amber sitting where she was and picked up the brunette wig she discarded earlier, and fit it on her head with a little tugging. She took her place at her console and began on another transmission to Kenny.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Before leaving the dais room somewhere in the depths of the ancient castle's belly, Kenny had managed to find some handgun bullets in the old, creaky chests and drawers decorating the interior. And it was with little debate that he decided to pocket some of the gold pesetas he'd found alongside them as well.

They headed back out into the hallway and decided to go the route Ashley had originally suggested, which led them down a long corridor with a single wooden door on the left. Ashley assumed her regular position, hunched behind Kenny while he led the way with nothing but a handgun to protect the both of them with. Over his shoulder, Ashley held a flashlight lighting their way that they made with slow, easy steps.

The wooden door opened up to reveal a strange labyrinth of a room with furniture made of old rotting wood, blanketed in a thick layer of cobwebs and dust. Rusty vertical bars carved them an irregular path through the room.

"Okay," Ashley said, taking in their surroundings, "where to next?"

"There's a door on the other side," Kenny replied, pointing through the bars to the opposite end of the room. "But the question is how do we get there?" He noticed an inconsistency with the spacing of two pairs of bars, that they were spaced closer than the others.

Ashley had noticed it too. "Maybe they're some kind of door?"

Kenny took hold of the bars and tried lifting upward. They wouldn't even give an inch.

"Hey look," Ashley exclaimed, pointing to their immediate left. The brick wall on the left end of the room sported an inset, displaying a bright red button. "You think that does what I think it does?"

"Give it a shot," Kenny replied, nodding in the direction of the button. "But I swear, if this is some kind of trap, I'll be seeing you in hell." Ashley hopped over a desk in her way and slammed her palm on the button, mechanically sliding the bars next to her upward, clearing the way for both of them.

"The buttons open up the gates," she said. "Looks to me like there's more than one gate." She began noticing them, the bars of the gates colored slightly differently than the others. "There's got to be more of these buttons around somewhere," she rationalized, stepping through the path she just created for herself.

Kenny hadn't moved from his spot, noticing something bright and red shining at him through the cracks in the wood of an old cabinet. He walked towards it and gave the cabinet a little push, revealing yet another red button in another inset in the wall. "I've found another!" he cried victoriously and pushed it. Two more gates slid up, opening up a pathway through the room towards the door on the other end. He ran to join Ashley at the door.

On his way, he stopped, spotting a loose tile in a decorative fireplace.

"What's going on, Kenny?" Ashley asked, growing impatient.

"This tile is loose," he said, plucking the tile from its groove in the fireplace.

"Yes," Ashley said, rolling her eyes, "this entire place is falling apart. I've noticed, thanks."

"No, I mean look at it. What were you saying just now about man-made grooves?" He handled the tile, inspecting it carefully. "This tile is a little looser than the others on the same fireplace. It's as if it was mean to be taken out. I removed it almost effortlessly, without any resistance from the …"

"Look, let's just go on, okay?" Ashley said, taking Kenny by the arm and pulling him along with her through the door. Deciding there was something more to the tile than met the eye, Kenny decided to pocket it as he followed Ashley.

She yelped as they shut the door behind them. Yet another corridor, only this one was pitch black and much narrower than the first. Ashley clicked on her flashlight and stabbed the darkness with its beam. "Get back in front of me," she ordered Kenny, who complied. They continued moving slowly forward.

"I really hate this …" Kenny noted under his shaky breath. "I hate narrow hallways, let alone in the dark."

"AH!" Ashley screamed, making him Kenny seize up and jump.

"WHAT! What is it?!"

"Oh," Ashley sighed, "It's just a suit of armor."

"Don't do that again!" Kenny cried, clutching his chest. "You want me to die young?"

"Sorry …"

There were more suits of armor, each one standing proudly, armored hands resting on the hilts of their swords. The luster of the metal had long since faded, dulled with time, cobwebs and the layers of cobwebs that draped over them. Finally the end of the corridor was in sight, and sure enough, it was yet another door that led to yet another room. This one had a long table placed in the center, with a square shaped dais at the far head of the table.

Kenny and Ashley approached the dais and found what looked like a puzzle. The image was broken up into eight pieces, with one missing piece.

"What the hell is this?" Ashley asked, sliding a square tile into the space for the missing piece.

Something clicked at the back of Kenny's mind. "It's one of those tile puzzles," he said, "where you have to slide the tiles to make an image. It's hard cause you can only move one tile at a time."

Ashley cocked an eyebrow at him. "You played with these?"

"Yeah," Kenny nodded, "when I was a kid, my big brother Cranky gave one to me for my birthday once. We were poor so I didn't get very many toys so whatever I had, I made it last. Played with it for months."

"I hope you're good at it."

"My skills might be a little rusty but …"

Kenny went straight to work with Ashley watching over his shoulder, taking the backseat driver role. He didn't seem to mind though, as the two of them put their heads together to work out the puzzle. So intense was their concentration that both of them had forgotten about their surroundings for a few minutes.

"No, no, you have to move this one around here, so you can make room for this piece to slide through!"

"But that'll block this piece, because we need to clear a path for it here, here and here."

"There!" Kenny said, triumphantly sliding the last piece in. "Does that look like something to you?"

Ashley nodded, biting her lower lip. "It looks like the crest on that blue door of the room with that spinny thing that doesn't spin. Well we made the image, we solved the puzzle. Isn't something supposed to happen?"

Kenny reached into his pocket and pulled out the tile from the fireplace. "I knew this baby was important," he said, rubbing his thumb across the surface of the tile. It fit perfectly into place with a loud, audible click. Then, a low rumbling sound followed. What had appeared to be a carving of the very crest they just created in the puzzle slid upwards and revealed a second section of the room.

"Come on!" he said, pulling Ashley with him, "we're getting closer to freedom!"

"Or farther away from Leon."

The second are of the room was similar to the first, only there was no puzzle to be solved. There was just more rotting furniture and a statue bust on a mantle piece at the far end. Kenny and Ashley approached, him more excited than she was. The bust was had something embedded in what was supposed to be a necklace. Kenny slipped his skinny fingers into the narrow space between the object that the stone bust that held it and pulled it out. "Look, Ash."

They both peered at the object. Ashley took it in her hand and discovered it was a circular and flat, like a disc. She rubbed her thumb across the surface and shined the flashlight onto it. "It's the crest." She touched the edges of the object gently. "Vertical grooves … I think we've found something that'll get that dais in the other room to spin!"

**SLAM!**

The entryway by which they entered slammed shut, trapping the both of them in the room.

"NO!" Kenny cried, running for the door. He was so caught up in his desperation that he didn't notice the bust of the statue spin around slowly to reveal a small chest behind it. Ashley took note of it though, and opened it slowly, hoping to find some kind of unlocking mechanism. But what she found was a small metal … something. It was two dimensional and had the most irregular shape. Part of it curled outwards to form some kind of snake-like S, perhaps a tail. She took it out of the chest and held it in her hands.

"Kenny, I think I found …"

But she didn't finish her sentence as she turned around to find him pounding on the door that had just closed. Mere moments after she had taken the irregularly shaped metallic object from the chest, the door slid back open. Kenny grinned at her.

"I guess violence DOES work sometimes …"

He grew quiet upon hearing the sound of metallic clanging, like metal on stone growing loud and louder with each clang. His eyes grew wide with fear, as did Ashley's.

"It sounds like footsteps," Ashley said. She pocketed both objects and took a step towards Kenny in alarm.

"Holy shit, Ashley, run!" Kenny backed away from the door, just in time to miss an axe swinging downward, embedding itself into the stone floor where he'd been standing seconds before.

He dashed for Ashley and stood protectively in front of her, spreading his arms wide. They both watched the newly opened doorway, witnessing a whole suit of armor step through, nearly hitting the top of its helmet on the doorframe.

"AAAAHH!!!" they both screamed in unison.

Kenny felt a surge of adrenaline pump through his body, causing him to act on instinct, throwing logic to the wind. He grabbed Ashley's wrist and pulled her along with him as he ran. The first suit of armor that came into the room made its way towards them as Ashley stood gawking in terror, rooted to the spot by the pedestal by her intense fear. The first suit of armor was joined by another, and yet another still until four of them were fully in the room, heading closer and closer to them with each clanging step.

He pulled her with him around the other side of the table that split the room, making sure to keep the furnishing between them and the possessed suits of armor. As the ghostly knights made their way around the pedestal towards them, they left the entrance wide open and Kenny and Ashley ran for it, leaving the knights behind in the room.

"This can't be happening!" Ashley wailed as she let Kenny drag her through the hallway they entered the rooms by, back in the direction they came from. "This can't be …"

"Duck!" Kenny ordered.

Ashley obeyed and fell to the ground, taking a quick glance up to see that another set of armor, this one standing motionless in the middle of the hall had swung its axe down upon the both of them, narrowly missing them by a hair width. She pulled her arms closer to her body and screamed loudly in terror.

"Aaaah!"

"No time, Ash, move it!" Kenny continued, pulling her to her feet, expecting the armor to come after them. He felt a wave of relief wash over him when the armor crumbled to the ground instead of taking on a life of its own a pursuing them as the others had.

"Watch out, there's another!" Ashley cried, this time tackling Kenny to the ground, saving his life as another axe came crashing down on his head. Just as the last one did, this suit of armor crumbled to the ground after the missed strike, giving the pair of kids time to escape.

This time it was Ashley's turn to help Kenny to his feet. She extended a hand which he accepted gratefully and the both of them began to make their way back to the dais room, taking quick glances around them to make sure there was nothing else after them.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

They crashed through the door in the dais room. Kenny remained by the door, grasping the knob in his hand, leaning his full weight against the frame, hoping to hold it shut against anything that might pursue them into the room.

"Hurry," he told her, "put the crest in the dais and give it a spin. I'll hold this door as long as I can."

Ashley nodded and pulled the crest from the pocket of her plaid skirt as she approached the dais. She fit the disc into the hollow on the top and watched in amazement as the ancient stone spun around, handle facing her. She placed both hands on the handle and leaned towards it, hearing the deep groan of ancient mechanics work as she spun the contraption around, revealing a ladder leading to a hole in the ceiling for them to escape.

The passageway to the ceiling opened with a final groan. Smiling, Ashley waved Kenny over for him to join her, and he accepted the invitation gladly. They made their way to the foot of the ladder and began to ascend, Ashley going ahead first while Kenny covered the rear with his handgun aimed at the door. She made it to the top and called down to him.

"The coast is clear up here," Ashley said. "Hurry up, Kenny! We're almost there … I think!"

"Right!" Kenny slid the handgun into its holster at his hip and scaled the ladder at twice the speed Ashley had.

"That was fast," she noted, impressed with his performance.

"I was scared," he admitted. "Come on, let's go." He took his hand in hers and they began walking down the long, narrow, windowless corridor that unfolded before them, twisting and turning at random corners. Finally, the narrow passageway ended, leading up to a wooden door. Ashley was the first to reach the door and pushed against it, blinking as the sudden light assaulted her vision.

"Are we out?" Kenny asked from behind, walking through the door frame after she did. His question was answered immediately without her having to say anything. The upper mezzanine where Leon sniped from revealed itself beyond the door, and he was standing there with open arms, welcoming the duo.

"Leon!" Ashley and Kenny cried together with relief.

"Ashley!" he cried, collecting the girl in a warm, gentle embrace, "Kenny!"

"You waited for us," Kenny noted gratefully.

"Of course," Leon replied, "you kids did good."

"Leon," Ashley said, pulling away from him for a second. "About just now, I'm sorry if I …"

Kenny's ears perked up upon hearing those words, hinting at a previous fight between Leon and Ashley.

"Don't worry about it," he interrupted. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Leon and Ashley made their way to the rear exit of the hall, where they spotted a pair of large, wooden doors. They paused for a moment when they realized a lack of footsteps following their lead. Leon turned around.

"Kenny?" he called.

The youth stood in the spot where he was standing when he exited the passageway. He looked sadly at the ground, shaking his head.

"You have to be joking me, Kenny!" Ashley cried. "I'm not leaving you here, especially after what you did for me back there!"

"I'm sorry Ash, Leon, I can't go with you," Kenny said weakly. "I've got to report back to Ada."

"Forget about her," Leon advised, putting his hand gently on Kenny's shoulder. "Ashley's safe now. There's no reason for you to go back to them anymore. I'll take care of you both, I promise."

"Can you, though?" Kenny challenged. "I have no doubt you're a good Agent, Leon, but can you single-handedly protect Ashley, me, and yourself against a whole countryside of possessed villagers and monsters?"

Leon remained silent, unsure of how to respond. Kenny took note of his silence and continued.

"If I can pull anymore strings with Ada and the others, try and alleviate the pressure on you two, and set something up so you guys can both escape, then I will try to do it. Besides, the way we're severely outnumbered, it would be good for me to work with them and save my own ass. It'll be better this way – for all three of us."

Leon sighed outwardly and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "I see your logic, and I completely understand where you're coming from. But I don't like your plan."

"Why not?"

"Because nothing is guaranteed. At least if you stick around with us …"

"…you're guaranteed to die," Kenny snapped. "Just let me do this, Leon."

"I'm tempted to, but what about you? How are we ever going to know if you're okay?"

"Your mission is to protect the First Daughter – my FRIEND," Kenny said. "And I agree with the President's choice in sending you. I wouldn't want anyone else watching over her. I appreciate your concern for my safety, Leon, but right now our priorities are the same. Keep Ashley safe. We'll both do our part."

"But Kenny, leaving you like this isn't right."

"It might be hard for you to believe I'm not that sad little fifteen-year-old you met in Raccoon City. I'm no longer that shy skinny kid who gave you your first tour of the precinct." He paused. "Haha, I remember that day." The smile on Leon's face told Kenny that he remembered it well too.

Leon sighed in resignation. "Alright, I'll let you do what you have to do. But on one condition." Leon held up a finger.

"What?"

"The second the coast is clear and you've secured a path for us to escape, I want you to contact me and you can either come with us, or I'll arrange for someone to pick you up."

Kenny chuckled.

"I'm serious, kid."

"Okay, I promise I will."

"Good."

Leon and Ashley turned around reluctantly and left Kenny standing in alone in the great hall while they walked through the double doors, leaving him with an audible echo of the doors slamming shut with finality. Kenny was alone once again.

**XXXXXXXXXX **

"You've protected Ashley well," an eerie, sly voice noted. "Keeping her in good shape until we can really use her, I assume? I am impressed."

Kenny spun around to face a surprising sight – a short, elfish figure whose head came up to his chest. Growing up, Kenny was never the biggest kid on the block. Even his big brother, who Kenny had referred to as "Cranky" when they were kids, had always given him a hard time for his small size. But this guy, if he could even be considered human, standing before him right now, was legally a midget. He was dressed in what looked like a 19th century British naval uniform, complete with wig, a navy blue coat with tasseled shoulders, and white pants. It was difficult enough to find clothes like that, let alone one sized for a child. And his features seemed to match the age of the outfit; pasty white, wrinkly skin with age spots on the back of his hands, and dark circles around his eyes. He was sick-looking, to the point where it made Kenny's stomach turn.

"You may wipe that seelly look off your face, Meester Kenneth Feng," the midget said with a thick Spanish accent.

"Who are you?" Kenny asked, more out of curiosity than fear.

"Ah, so you finally dee-cided to ask," the midget said, taking a shallow bow. "My name is Ramon Salazar, an aid to Lord Saddler."

An aid to Lord Saddler? This midget, this … Salazar knew Kenny's name, which could've only meant that his personal information was shared with Lord Saddler. And the one person who would have given it to Saddler was Krauser. Kenny clenched his fist angrily at the thought. He wanted nothing more than to live life peacefully after all this was said and done, but now other sick creeps operating outside of Umbrella knew about him thanks to Krauser, further diminishing his chances at a normal life.

"You don't speek much, but I can see a lot in your face," Salazar noted, staring curiously at him. "I dun't care how you work, but in dis mission, you will share your thoughts with me."

"I'm with Umbrella," Kenny said. "I work directly under Krauser and if I receive no orders from him to cooperate with anyone else, I don't. Let alone a creepy old man like you …"

"Hahaha," Salazar laughed in a raspy voice. "Old? I am only twenty years old, my meesguided friend. Younger than you by a year."

"Yeah well apparently I'm not even a convincing eighteen year old cause I still get my ID checked if I wanna buy cigarettes," Kenny noted, "so I'll have whatever it is you're having."

Salazar didn't even glare at him for the subtle insult, but instead changed the subject. "Krauser is now trying to earn my Master's trust. Lord Saddler is a very fair man, and will give Krauser as many chances as he needs to prove his loyalty. Conseeder dis little exchange between us one of those chances, since I work directly under Lord Saddler, and you under Krauser."

"I'll have to clear it with him first."

"I'll give you your orders now, and I hope you will clear it with Krauser quickly."

"Okay, spill it."

"We want Ashley back from Meester Scott Kennedy. She is with him as we speak."

"Yeah, I left her with him."

"And Lord Saddler is most displeased with that. No doubt this will work towards your Commander's disadvantage." Kenny grimaced at the thought of having to face Krauser. His eye was starting to show a mark from his last encounter. "I will make sure that this information is kept from him, however, if only you will help us reclaim Ashley."

Kenny sighed in resignation. He could fight, but he wouldn't be able to hold his own in a fight against Krauser. Ashley was completely defenseless in the hands of Saddler … or hell, where ever she walked. The girl was vulnerability personified. He briefly considered both alternatives and came to the conclusion that neither option was better than the other. Both himself and Ashley would be equally screwed whatever choice he made.

"I'll get Ashley for you," he said. Kenny decided that he'd co-operate with them for now and protect Ashley while she was in their hands until Leon could make it to them. He hoped he was beginning to form some kind of unspoken alliance with Leon given their last conversation.

"Dat is excellent," Salazar said, a disgusting grin spreading across his wrinkly face, revealing yellow-stained teeth. "You will have the Ganados, Los Illuminados and the Novistadors at your disposal."

"The … what?"

Salazar groaned. "Our forces. They will be at your disposal."

"Gotcha."

"Therefore, you have no excuse to fail at this task, Meester Kenneth Feng. We expect to have Ashley in our hands in the next hour or two."


	13. Interlude: Mission Accomplished?

For a supposedly trained Umbrella operative, the boy Dr. Clarissa Harlech saw from her monitor had a young, round face, barely any stubble on his chin. The last time she had made contact with Kenneth Feng, the background lighting wherever he was provided less than adequate to see his facial features clearly. Now it seemed he was indoors; in a well lit room, though the stone walls behind him and the sheen of sweat coating his forehead gave her the impression of lack of heat. There was a large bruise on his face.

"Agent 16320-Rockfort," Dr. Harlech called sternly. "Can you hear me?"

"Y…yeah," Kenneth replied while swallowing a visible lump in his throat.

"Is everything in order?" Dr. Harlech felt a shiver run down her spine. She understood that playing an Umbrella operative was crucial to this mission but it just felt so wrong from the morality of it all, right down to the very speech. She felt the need to ask for his well-being, however, after seeing that giant bruise just under his right eye, but decided to disguise the query with an authoritative tone.

"Yeah," Kenneth repeated weakly.

"I have an updated set of instructions for you," Dr. Harlech said rather unconvincingly. "After you secure the samples, you are to …"

"Can this wait?" Kenneth asked. "I've got another task underway and frankly, securing the samples will likely not happen for the next little while."

"Ok then …" Dr. Harlech could've smacked herself for letting her meek comment slip out. She'd broken out of her character but if Kenneth noticed, he showed no sign. "I will be in contact in the near future. It is imperative you take note of the instructions we have for you. Take as much time as you need to complete your mission but no more than that. Over and out."

Dr. Harlech's monitor blinked out into blackness, Kenneth's face disappearing along with it. She turned around to face her comrades – Renee leaning against the wall behind her and a little to the left, out of Kenneth's view into the room, and Amber Bernstein, twiddling her thumbs nervously.

"You did good," Dr. Harlech said, patting Amber on the shoulder.

Amber shook her head solemnly. "It was all I could do to not jump in there and scream at Kenny," she said. "He's not the monster we're making him out to be, Clarissa."

"You haven't seen him in eleven years. You don't know what's happened to turn him into an Umbrella operative."

"Something terrible," Amber said. "He was so earnestly hard working. Loved his job. Worked for free. Did all the mundane the officers hated doing like filing, paperwork, bringing coffee to the S.T.A.R.S. – and always with a smile on his face. I just don't get it."

"Well if what you're saying is true, then neither do we. Isn't that right, Renee?"

The ex-Umbrella mercenary looked up from inspecting her fingernails. "That's right," she replied. "And quite frankly, I don't see why we should waste our time figuring it out. Listen Amber, the kid may have been good once. But he's not a kid anymore or _good_ for that matter. You've managed to put Raccoon and the death of your fiancée behind you. Why should the fate of some office boy turned cold blooded killer bother you?"

"I just … didn't think anyone else I knew survived Raccoon except Jill and a handful of her colleagues. It's just nice to find another survivor. One that I didn't meet trying to escape that urban death trap."

"Regardless …" Renee began.

"And there's something wrong," Amber interrupted. "It doesn't take a genius to figure out he's unhappy about something."

"You think? With that giant bruise on his face? I could've sworn he was having a party in that broken European castle. Look, Amber, we'll find out what's going on with him when we nab him. Right now, we just have to play the game."

"Yeah," Renee agreed, "and you're not playing it very well going by the way you just let him tell you off and cut off transmission like that. We have orders for him to secure the Las Plagas samples, damn it."

**XXXXX**

Salazar led Kenny down a ladder hidden by a rusty manhole in the aged brick of the castle floor. They climbed down into what seemed like darkness from the top, but turned out to be a dimly lit passageway. Salazar's short limbs gave him difficulty but he climbed down before Kenny did regardless. The youth's instinct was to help the deformed midget down but realized he'd be happier if he'd fallen into the slimy muck that coated the ground beneath.

"Climb faster, Meester Feng," Salazar hissed impatiently. We steel have a ways to go."

Kenny closed the manhole and climbed down quickly after Salazar, jumping the last few rungs. The splash he caused upon landing caused a spray of filthy liquid with large drops that fell onto Salazar. Had he been a little taller, the water from the splash would've soaked his upper thighs. But the vertically challenged Lord instead grimaced down at his stained shirt.

"We go with care!" Salazar said, stomping his foot down, causing Kenny to be splashed in return.

"Do you want to show me these Novi-whatcha-call-its or stay here and have a water fight?"

Salazar said nothing in return, spun on his heels and walked speedily down the sewer way. The walls were made of large, rounded ancient stones cemented together with some kind of old hardening agent. It was hard to tell from the coating of old grime hardened over time.  The lighting in the tunnel was provided by evenly spaced torches bolted to the grimy walls. Since the tunnels weren't filled with choking smoke, Kenny guessed there must've been some kind of ventilation system hidden by the dimness that allowed the smoke to escape. Throughout their long journey through this one tunnel, the water level remained constant, giving Kenny the impression of still, rotting pools of liquid, which helped him keep up with Salazar's quick pace.

The tunnel ended soon enough and Kenny found himself at a five-way junction. Not knowing which way to head next, he looked so Salazar, realizing that the small man hadn't stopped and was continuing along his merry way to whatever destination awaited them.

"We're not going to get lost in this place, are we," Kenny asked.

"It's a sizeable castle," Salazar replied, "but each of the wings are distinct. It's navigating the sewer systems that can be rather befuddling."

The rest of the journey continued with unabated silence and through countless more twisting tunnels that led, oftentimes, in more than one direction. Their walk ended when the tunnel spilled open into a large cavernous space. The trail continued on for a few more feet and stopped dead. Beyond the trail was a vast chasm so deep, the bottom could not be seen. Kenny looked up and was met with more darkness. The surrounding space was roughly half the size of a football field, fringed with a jagged rock face with countless holes bore right into it. Kenny could hear the echoes of a strange hissing sound coming from somewhere in the rocks.

"Where is this place?" he asked.

"This is where we keep the Novistadors," Salazar replied. "You see those holes? Those are their nests."

"And that hissing …"

"That would be them."

Salazar then took Kenny's elbow in his hand and produced a syringe from his coat pocket. Spotting the needle, Kenny yanked his arm away and took a few steps back, getting some distance between him and the tiny man. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he asked.

"You're making this very difficult for me," Salazar said, unimpressed by Kenny's reaction.

"I'm not letting you stab me with that unless I know what's in that vile!"

Salazar sighed. "It is a Las Plagas queen embryo," he replied.

"Get that thing away from me," Kenny ordered. "There's no fucking way I'm letting that thing swim around inside me."

"It is necessary in order for the Novistadors to recognize you as one of their own," Salazar insisted.

"Yeah, and kill me in the long run."

"We have a machine that seeks out parasite in your body and eliminates it when you no longer need it in your body."

"That's rich, coming from the guy who used those things to possess an entire village."

"The Shadow Technology in you will act as a first line of defense against the parasite's attempts at taking over your body."

"What if it works so well that it kills the queen and I lose control of the Nova-whatcha-call-its?"

"That will not happen. The Las Plagas are resilient creatures. Even if the Shadow Technology does kill the queen, she will live for at least long enough for you to get this mission accomplished."

"That really doesn't reassure me," Kenny said. "If the queen doesn't kill me, these creatures will."

"Lord Saddler will not allow that to happen, I assure you. You are needed, Meester Feng, to keep the presidential girl calm and to bring her to him." 

Before Kenny could argue further, Salazar grasped Kenny's arm and jabbed the needle into the crook of his elbow. Kenny thought to struggle initially, but realized it'd be worse to have the queen embryo in him, and a sharp piece of metal. And speaking of the embryo, he was somewhat curious to see what it looked like. Between the fingers of his hand that Kenny only just realized was covering his eyes (he didn't like needles), he stole a glance at the thing inside the tube and spotted a translucent egg, much like a frog's egg. Only the eye of the egg sac was slightly bigger and looked like a spider curled up into a ball.

Salazar finished injecting embryo, pulled the syringe out of Kenny's arm, threw it on the ground and crushed it beneath his foot. He then turned on his heels and began walking back the way they came. Kenny followed, but as soon as he had taken the first step, Salazar stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoulder at him. "Where do you think you are going, Meester Feng?"

Kenny shrugged. "I dunno, following you like I've been doing this whole time."

"You are to stay here."

Hearing those words made Kenny's heart sink into the pits of his stomach. "And do what? Party with these things?"

"They will do as you command."

"How do I command them?" Kenny demanded. "Do they understand English?"

Salazar chuckled at his insane suggestions. "I suppose you wouldn't know how to control these things," he admitted, "how silly of me to overlook that."

"Yeah," Kenny breathed a sigh of relief, "I'll say."

"You don't even have to speak to the creatures," he said. "Just … think your commands to them. The queen will act as a kind of medium to transmit your thoughts to them, and they'll think their commands are coming from the queen herself. Of course, it would be, if it wasn't for the Shadow Technology in your body. Try it."

Kenny rolled his eyes at Salazar's information, sounding more like science fiction as he continued to spew out his explanation, but Kenny decided to try it anyway. He looked directly into one of the holes in the rock face on the chasm walls directly across from where he stood and commanded the creature to come out with his mind.

Six giant insect legs unfolded from the dark hole and pulled out what looked like a giant locust with giant insect wings buzzing like a thousand hives of killer bees. It flew towards Kenny with such speed that he screamed and ducked, covering his head protectively. He felt the warm, stringy saliva drop down on the back of his neck from the creature's mouth, realizing that the monster was standing directly over him.

"Salazar," Kenny whispered fearfully, "make it go away!"

Salazar, meanwhile, was observing the scene, thoroughly amused by Kenny's reaction. "Why don't you make it go away?" he suggested.

And Kenny did. He closed his eyes tightly and wished the creature away with every fiber of his being. He wished it to fly as far away from him and as quickly as possible. The next thing he knew, Kenny heard a resounding splat. He opened his eyes and back where the creature emerged from, he could see the remains of its outer insect shell stuck to the wall with its innards.

"Looks like you might have commanded the creature a little too intensely," Salazar commented. "If you haven't already realized, Meester Feng, the creatures' actions directly reflect the urgency of your commands. That is why it came soaring to you the moment you ordered it to."

"That … is freaking amazing," Kenny said, suddenly realizing what he could do with such power.

"But like I said earlier," Salazar reminded him, "Lord Saddler has absolute control over all the Las Plagas and their hosts. So don't try anything funny with your newfound powers. Just do as you are ordered; bring Ashley back to us from Meester Scott Kennedy. That is all."

And Saddler walked back into the tunnel without taking another glance at Kenny, leaving him there to figure out his next plan of action to achieve his goal. He supposed Leon was going to head through the sewers to find an escape route. After all, the way he used to enter the castle had closed up with hoards of Las Plagas controlled villagers and monks. The sewer system was the most logical place for him to go to get himself and Ashley out of there. And that was exactly where he would unleash his army of Novistadors to take Ashley and … and … he didn't want to think about what they would do to Leon. If they actually succeeded in killing Leon, Kenny wasn't sure he'd be able to live with himself. Because of Leon died, so would his hope and Ashley's hope of escaping the island in one piece.

Kenny's thoughts were interrupted by the transmission device Krauser gave to him.  He pulled the transmitter from his belt and activated it.

"Rockfort-16320 here," he said, recognizing the face that greeted on the screen. "What news do you have for me, Dr. H?"

"I'd like an update from you," she replied snappily. "It's been awhile since you've reported anything on your progress."

"Well obtaining the Las Plagas samples isn't an easy take," Kenny reported, "but I'm happy to announce I've gotten a sample."

Dr. H's eyes widened with shock. "Already?" she asked. "H…how were you able to …?"

"Somehow, Krauser was able to convince the head honcho here that I was a capable ally and they decided to bestow me with one of the samples – a queen."

"I would love to see it," Dr. H said. "You know, as a security measure in case you aren't bearing false witness."

"I can't show you," Kenny admitted. "The sample is inside me. But let me show you the kind of abilities it's given to me." He summoned another creature, more gently this time, coaxing it out of its nest and ordered for it to land beside him. The creature arrived in all its slimy, buzzing glory and Kenny tilted the screen for Dr. H to see. She let out a scream of horror. Startled by her reaction, the Novistador snapped it jaws at the screen but Kenny ordered it to stay back. He tilted the screen back to face him.

"What the hell is that?!" Dr. H shrieked.

"Do you see what I mean?" Kenny said. "I've got the ability to control these things with the queen sample inside me."

Dr. H fixed the glasses that had gone lopsided on her face, probably when the creature had startled her and cleared her throat. "Good work, Rockfort," she said. "Now that you have secured the samples, your new orders are to locate a pickup point, where we will send in a chopper after you."

"N…not yet, I still have too …" Kenny paused. He still needed to deliver Ashley to Lord Saddler before he left. They would surely kill them if he left now. If not, since Salazar had reminded him that Saddler had final control over the monsters, he would perhaps send the monsters to kill him before he could be rescued from the island. He would have to deliver Ashley first … but if he did and then left, there was a chance Saddler would kill her too, following his betrayal. His mind struggled once again to come to a plan that would save everyone, but he could see none in sight.

"What is it you have left to do?" Dr. H demanded.

"There are just some loose ends I have to tie up first," Kenny said. "I need to inform the other Umbrella Agents first. I'll contact you shortly after."

"Very well. Keep safe, Rockfort. You have what we need."

"Yes ma'am." And the transmission ended. Kenny had finally achieved what he set out to do – he had obtained a sample. And in doing so, he gained partial control of the Novistadors which would help alleviate the pressure from Leon and Ashley, as he had promised to do when he parted with them. Things were going well. Almost too well …


	14. Chapter 10: Devastating Realization

Kenny brought a lit cigarette to his lips, inhaled the warm, satisfying fumes and exhaled them in a plume of bluish smoke so thick, it obscured his vision of the vast Novistador cavern for a brief moment. The cloud of second hand smoke was then beaten away by a harsh wind produced from the swarm of the creatures, now buzzing about around Kenny. It only took a gentle summon and the entire hive leapt out of their nests, hovering in innumerable numbers with their bug eyes focusing on him. As soon as he had their undivided attention, which took him seconds to earn, they sped off into the tunnels by which the hive could be accessed.

_Patrol the sewers,_ he ordered them._ Seek out Ashley and bring her to Lord Saddler._ He didn't even need to describe Ashley to the creatures. A simple image of her face in his mind, by some amazing ability of the queen embryo in his body, projected his thoughts to the Novistadors in the form of a command. And they obeyed him as they would her. Kenny was tempted to give them another order – don't hurt Leon. But if the Las Plagas controlled creatures, for some mysterious reason, weren't killing the very target Saddler would want dead, he would surely notice and Kenny didn't want to risk that.

"I'm sorry, Leon," Kenny said out loud. He collapsed against the rock wall and sank to the ground, taking the last few drags of his cigarette before putting it out with a rock. Pulling his knees to his chest, Kenny folded his arms and buried his face in them, shivering from the cold of the cavern. His stomach turned with guilt. He felt physically sick from what he had just done. And what was all of it for? So that nobody would suspect him of siding with the enemy?

As far as Kenny was concerned, his actions spoke for themselves. He had gone so far into his pretend act in siding with Krauser and Saddler that it made no difference whether his true allegiance lay with Leon, Umbrella, or the terrorist cult. He didn't like taking Ashley to the church and straight to Krauser. He didn't like shooting at Leon or plotting with Ada and Krauser about what to do with him next, and he sure as hell didn't like sending these nasty creatures to capture Ashley and kill Leon; their only way out of this place as far as Kenny could see. But what did it matter whether he liked it or not? Terrible as those acts were, he had committed them and only realized now that he was not willing to accept responsibility if Leon was indeed killed.

"Taking a break, are we?"

Kenny didn't have to look at the newcomer, realizing it was Krauser heading towards him from the darkness of the tunnels from his heavy combat boots against the loose rock. It would have made his day if Kenny could unleash the Novistadors on him but it wouldn't be smart to attack Lord Saddler's most trusted servant – that is, if Krauser had done his job successfully. Kenny needed to clarify.

"Talked to Saddler yet?" he asked.

Krauser snorted. "He wasn't exactly eager to have me on board but I managed to convince him."

"How?"

"None of your business," he snapped. "You've been keeping busy with Ashley I see. Salazar tells me you freed her and tried running off with her while the castle monks tried stopping you both."

"Ashley's safer with me," Kenny said. "If any of the Las Plagas or Umbrella goons were to take her, I guarantee Leon would unleash hell against them to get her back. And that would put Ashley at risk of getting hurt. Since she's my friend, and Leon knows me, he's not as agitated if I were to be around her."

"I admire your confidence, kid," Krauser said. "But don't let that get to your head. Leon won't hesitate to put a bullet in you the moment he sees you as a threat to him or his mission."

"I'm not a threat," Kenny said so readily, he was verging on becoming defensive.

"You're not seriously telling yourself that, are you?" Krauser asked.

"What do you care?"

"Let me tell you this. You are in a real fucked up position right now. I don't trust you, and neither Saddler nor Salazar gives two shits about you after you've done what you need to for them, and Leon's likely to be waiting for you to put a knife in his back, so he can counter that with a shotgun round to your head. I know you're trying to play both sides and trust me, it's not earning you any brownie points from nobody!" 

"You don't have the slightest inkling what my plans are."

Krauser let out a loud, obnoxious laugh that echoes through the tunnels. "You are in no position to be making plans, you fucking idiot! What kind of control would you possibly have in this shit hole of a country swarming with possessed people and creatures?!"

"I can help get Ashley -"

"We can get her with or without your help!" Krauser interrupted. "You sound like a goddamn broken record saying that all the time. Wake the hell up. You're only here as Umbrella's tool. A very valuable tool thanks to the Shadow Technology, but still a tool nonetheless. Your connection with Ashley is a convenient coincidence."

"Stop talking about the Shadow Technology," Kenny snapped. "It's haunted me my whole life and-"

"Your whole life? You only found out about it just after you escaped Raccoon City. "

"When I was a child …"

"Your amnesia took care of those memories, along with any other childhood memories you might have had."

"How much do you know about me, Krauser?" Kenny leapt to his feet, suddenly enraged by the fact someone he'd just met was telling him about his life and all he'd been cursed with. "And how did you get all this information?!"

"Your personal files aren't exactly private property, especially when it comes to the higher-ups at Umbrella," Krauser told him. "Since I was assigned the unfortunate task of retrieving you for this mission, I was briefed on why Umbrella likes you so much.

"Your father was one of the head scientists in the development division of Shadowlaw, a global crime syndicate based in Southeast Asia. The man's brilliant work with the company produced a means of enhancing the body's natural immune system to render them practically immune to death … among other things. When he realized Shadowlaw had no plans on using his work for the betterment of humanity, he sold it to Umbrella. Out of the pan and into the fire."

"That still doesn't make me Umbrella's property," Kenny retorted tightly.

"Umbrella paid up front for the Shadow Technology but your father was killed before he could deliver it. Shadowlaw sent a hit squad after him."

"He knew," Kenny elaborated. "And he hid it inside me when I was a child to stop his employers from finding it."

"Oh, but they found out. And Umbrella did too. Umbrella paid for you. You are theirs."

"Call me what you like," Kenny snapped, "it doesn't change the fact that once this is over, Umbrella's back to being out of my life."

"And you can say whatever you like," Krauser retorted, "You're wrapped tighter around their finger than you'll ever know. Your presence in this godforsaken country proves that." 

"Fuck you, Krauser," Kenny said, pushing past the big soldier.

Under normal circumstances, Krauser would've beat Kenny to the ground for taking that kind of atone with him. But this time, he was sure that revealing the cold hard reality of Kenny's situation hurt the youth beyond repair. He'd spent so long, six years, running from Umbrella yet never knowing he had never left their reach.

**XXXXX**

Kenny climbed out of the tunnels quickly, driven by anger. The man was right, he was nothing but a tool, and the way he'd let himself get handled by Ada, Krauser, Salazar, doing whatever he was told, didn't alleviate that anger. He wasn't sure if that anger was directed at himself for letting things get the way they were, or at Krauser for telling Kenny what he didn't want to hear.

He realized he'd been walking through the sewers absorbed in his own thoughts without a clue as to where he was going. Kenny turned around and looked in the direction he came from and saw nothing but dirty water and brick walls. He turned back in the direction he was heading in and saw more of the same thing.

"Damn!" Kenny kicked at a wall, splashing water all over himself. He forced himself to think of a way out. He was lost in the sewer system of the castle. These tunnels had to be maintained and that's why they were built to accommodate more than waste, but human presence as well. And if that was so, then the people had to get down here somehow. And being at this size, Kenny rationalized that there had to have been more than one entryway. In fact, the place should have been littered with manholes and other entrances. Kenny looked up and saw nothing but a stone ceiling. Had the entrance through which he and Salazar entered the sewers been the only one Kenny could remember? He dug through his memory, trying to remember if he'd seen another manhole, and if so, how soon after the last. But he could remember nothing.

Kenny considered the control he had over the Novistadors, and wondered if he could summon one to get him out of here. But when he remembered Salazar mentioning that Saddler had absolute control over the creatures, Kenny decided against it. For all he knew, now that they likely had Ashley and Kenny was useless, Saddler had probably dissolved his control of the Novistadors by now, and his summons for them would only act as a target for them under Saddler's command. Kenny wasn't sure that this was the case, but it was a likely scenario and he didn't want to take any unnecessary risks.

"Fuck!" kicked the wall a second time, splashing more water on himself, but he didn't care at this point. He was going to die down here. Even if he had managed to contact Dr. H, chances of them finding him down here before he died was slim to none. And it wasn't the lack of food – it was the creatures this place was crawling with. And nobody would care. He'd gotten the Novistadors to bring Ashley to Salazar. He'd outlived his usefulness. Saddler and those allied with him likely no longer cared what happened to Kenny. But … Umbrella wouldn't just let him die, Kenny realized suddenly. He was their property, and according to Krauser, one of their prized possessions. Suddenly, Krauser words, meant to dehumanize Kenny became his beacon of hope from this stinking death trap.

Kenny sighed outwardly, silently apologizing to himself for what he had to do.

"Krauser?" he called aloud. There was no response. Kenny realized it had barely been above a whisper. Swallowing his pride, he called out louder. "Krauser?!" He listened through the silence for any sound of movement in the sewers. Expansive as they were, there was also a real lack of sound, since the water was stagnant. When he heard nothing, Kenny shouted more desperately, barely able to conceal the panic in his voice.

"KRAUSER!! Help me!!"

This time, a soft chuckle echoed through the waterway from somewhere far off. Kenny never thought he'd be so glad to hear Krauser's voice.

"You're fucking magic," the voice continued. It still sounded far away. "What do you need me for all of a sudden?"

Kenny swallowed a lump in his throat. "I just … I, um, need you to … fix my transmitter," Kenny called out into the darkness. He took his transmitter out of his pocket and prepared to bash it against the stone wall. "It's not working anymore."

"Tell me the fucking truth and I _might_ come get you!" Krauser called back.

"I'M LOST!!" Kenny finally shouted angrily. "There are you happy?! Now come get me, damn it! I don't wanna die down here!!"

It had felt like forever, but only a minute or so would've passed before Krauser appeared in front of Kenny in all of his cocky glory, arms folded across his chest, one corner of his mouth upturned in an "I told you so" grin.

"Thanks," Kenny breathed, but was cut off when Krauser dashed at him and lifted him over his shoulder.

"We have no time to waste," Krauser said, dashing out of the tunnels. The speed with which he moved was inhuman, as Kenny watched the walls zip by him at insane speeds, feeling the still air rush ruffle through his clothes, his stomach threatening to spill whatever contents it had. How the hell did he move so quickly? Kenny had barely registered what was happening before Krauser had shouldered him. The next thing he knew, they were standing by a manhole, not the one he had entered the sewers by. Krauser dumped him roughly into the disgusting murky water with a resounding splash.

"Get up," he ordered, "we're relocating."

Kenny obliged without too much grumbling despite being covered from head to toe in the slimy muck and scaled the ladder. The manhole opened up into what looked like a dock built in a cavern. He could hear the steady ocean waves beat underneath the wet wood that spilled out over the water's surface. A leg of the dock extended out farther than the rest leading to an awaiting motorboat. A feminine figure dressed in read had her back to Kenny but she looked over her shoulder as soon as she registered his presence. A coy smile spread upon her ruby lips.

"Hey, junior," she said. "You all ready to go?"

"Where are we headed?" Kenny asked.

"I've got a meeting with Saddler," Krauser said, following Kenny up from the manhole. "They've somehow managed to reclaim Ashley from Leon."

Kenny's first instinct was to tell that that it was because of him that Ashley was now in Saddler's hands, that he was more capable than they thought. But rethinking his decision, that would only prove Krauser's point; that as much as he tried to pretend to be playing both sides, his actions revealed that he was truly on _their_ side – especially since now he had actually managed to get the Plagas samples he had come to the island for. And Leon was about to find out what he had done sooner or later. But still, wanting to preserve any dignity he might've had left, Kenny decided to keep his mouth shut.

"What are you waiting for?" Ada asked coolly. "Forgot your purse?" Kenny grunted and trudged toward the boat, soaking wet and all, leaving behind him a trail of footprints on the wet concrete.

The boat ride lasted a few good minutes, allowing him to taste the fresh, salty ocean air. It was nice to experience something other than the castle's musty atmosphere for a change, and for those few minutes, Kenny had completely forgotten where he was, what he had done, and how much he yearned to just go home.

Ada was at the driver's wheel while Krauser occupied the passenger seat. Kenny sat at the back, looking out at the foamy trail the boat left behind on the water surface. The wind chilled him to the bone, especially since he hadn't been given time (or a towel) to dry off the water from the sewers.

"It's been hours since we last saw each other," Ada commented to him. "What do you have to report?"

"Keeping Leon busy," Kenny fibbed, still wanting to keep his encounter with Salazar to himself.

"By helping Ashley escape the clutches of the castle," Krauser replied.

Ada suddenly shut off the engine, letting the boat crawl to a complete stop. She got out of her seat and walked towards Kenny, the rockiness of the waves not affecting her in the slightest, despite wearing the tallest stiletto heel's he had ever seen. Kenny, from his seated position, looked up at her curiously wondering what she was doing, not expecting the vicious slap Ada delivered to his bruised face.

Kenny felt the sharp sting of her strike, blinking away tears from his eyes. The skin on his cheek burned to high heaven. There was no way the slap wouldn't have left a handprint as bright as Ada's lipstick on his face.

"What …" Kenny stammered, too stunned to say anything else.

"Do you think this is a game?" Ada asked, still maintaining her composure. "I don't know how many times we've tried driving it through that thick skull of yours. Ashley is Krauser's priority, not yours. You are to get the _sample_. "

"Start the boat," Krauser told her. "He knows what he's supposed to do if he wants to leave this place alive. Frankly, I don't care how capable he is. I've felt it from the beginning, this there are too many people assigned to this simple mission. We could afford to lose a few men."

Ada glared menacingly at Krauser. "You don't know a goddamned thing, Krauser," she spat. She took one more quick glance at Kenny, making sure they made eye contact so he could read her carefully – that she wasn't joking around. Kenny was still nursing his cheek from when she slapped him.

"I know I'm the one who earned us our way in with Saddler," Krauser sneered at Ada. "You've got some nerve throwing your weight around like this. What have you been doing this whole time? Chasing Leon around the village?"

Ada let out a raucous laugh. "Making sure neither of you jeopardize this mission with your inexperience. And going by Kenny's progress so far, it's a good thing I'm here."

"If you only knew, you arrogant bitch," Kenny mumbled under his breath. He rang his fingers gently over his stomach, knowing somewhere in there, a Queen Plagas was sitting.

"Then get in those labs and nab the sample," Krauser said. "Leon will no doubt come for Ashley. I'll tackle him. There's no way he can get to her before they complete the ceremony on her."

The words froze Kenny. Ada and Krauser continued their conversation but none of their following words registered to him. Ceremony? What ceremony was Krauser talking about? Was that why Salazar ordered Kenny to reclaim Ashley? Kenny thought he was doing it for her safety. Of course the Ganados and the Los Illuminados would go after Leon and he figured it would be safer for Ashley if she was nowhere around him. He hadn't realized Saddler had something planned for her …

"Krauser," Kenny said, standing up from his seat. He was shaking, not from the cold, not from the fact that he'd been savagely backhanded by Ada, but from fear for what might happen to Ashley, and the guilt from realizing that he was solely responsible if anything were to happen to her. "What are they planning to do to Ashley?"

Krauser smirked and gave Ada a light elbow. She didn't seemed at all pleased that he had touched her. "Still concerning yourself with the president's girl, huh, kid?"

"You've always known from the moment you nabbed me back at the university that my priority is with my friend's safety," Kenny said. "Now I want to know … what are they planning on doing to her?"

"Return her home," Krauser said so casually, Kenny thought he was joking.

"What?"

"They're not aiming to kill her," he elaborated, "not here, anyway."

"Then why bring her here in the first place?"

"You've seen the crazy villagers possessed by those Las Plagas creatures. The initial mine workers infected by the Plagas spread the infection around. And it happened so quickly, so thoroughly. And every single infected individual bends to Saddler's will."

"What does any of that have to do with Ashley?" Kenny pressed.

"She's the daughter of the United States president," Krauser continued. "Think of how many people she comes into contact with on a daily basis."

"No …" Kenny gasped. "They're not going to use her to …"

"… spread the infection around in the United States. Think about it – the most powerful country in the world bending to Saddler's iron will."

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Kenny said, positioning himself at the side of the boat. That was an understatement. His stomach was swimming with guilt. By playing along with this sick game, he was single-handedly spelling doom not only for his friend, but an entire country! And this whole time he thought ... It didn't matter what he thought – just the fact that he wasn't even THINKING to begin with in the first place. He knew at the back of his mind that neither Saddler, nor Umbrella was up to any good. But he figured he could afford to pretend to side with them while Leon handled everything but Kenny had instead worked directly against everything Leon was trying to accomplish.  Whatever it was Kenny was doing, he had to stop it … if it wasn't already too late …


	15. Chapter 11: The Road to Penance

It had only taken a few minutes for them to arrive at their destination; the 'island', if it could be called that, rose from the water's surface in the distance like a giant, barren tortoise shell capped with jagged brown peaks looking like old, crusty fingers reaching out for help from the ocean's salty waters. There was no dock that Kenny could see and he began wondering where Ada was planning to dock the boat.

She didn't. Ada slowed the boat down and maneuvered the craft so that is floated adjacent to a rock face. There was no beach for them to anchor and swim to. Krauser leapt off the boat and climbed onto the rock with surprising ease for someone of his bulk. As soon as he touched solid ground, he turned around to face his comrades.

"I've got a meeting with Saddler," he announced. "Don't worry about Ashley and Leon. I'll keep them busy. You two just focus on getting your hands on those samples." Krauser didn't wait for Ada or Kenny to reply before continuing to scale the rock, disappearing from view.

Kenny was about to follow suit when Ada stopped him.

"Don't lose sight of what you have to do, Kenny," she said.

"I won't," he replied.

"You can't lie to me," Ada continued. "Ashley's in trouble and it's bothering you."

Kenny sighed and decided to be a little more honest with her, though why he chose to, he couldn't explain. "If anything happens to her or Leon, I'll never be able to forgive myself." If he hadn't known any better, Kenny would've sworn he saw a break in Ada's cold, professional demeanor in the form of a sympathetic smile. But just as he noticed it, the notion had disappeared quickly as it had come.

"I wouldn't worry about them," Ada said. "As soon as Leon gets Ashley back, his mission will be over and we can get back to retrieving those samples."

"The trick is getting Ashley back to Leon before they complete whatever ceremony Saddler has planned for her," Kenny said.

Ada shook her head. "It's too late for that. Ceremony or not, Ashley and Leon have the Plagas in them. It'll have to be destroyed before they can go back or they'll risk taking the infection to the United States."

"What can we do?"

"You tell me," Ada said with a smug.

"I don't know."

"You're planning something," she continued.

"I've got a half baked plan but …"

"Krauser gave you a transmitter, I'm told, and Wesker's been having trouble contacting you. I don't know how you did it, but I know you've got something up your sleeve. I've received extra orders to keep a close eye on you but lucky for you, I don't share Wesker's interests entirely."

"But the line works just fine," Kenny protested. "And I've been in contact with Umbrella."

This time, a look of suspicion crossed Ada's features. "How, exactly?"

"I've been reporting my progress to Dr. H," Kenny explained. "She's my Umbrella contact."

"Wesker's our only contact," Ada said. "He's been in touch with Krauser and me through those same transmitters. You're the only one who's remained consistently out of contact with him since our arrival here."

Kenny's jaw fell open. "I … I don't …"

Ada scrutinized his features, trying to find any trace of a lie but Kenny was just as stunned as she was. He was trying, as Ada likely was, to figure out what this could've meant.  Kenny wasn't sure what kind of an expression he wore, but Ada seemed to have believed it genuine and didn't continue pressuring him. "Seems like the line's been jacked. Something's going on that we don't know about," she said, "and I don't like it one bit."

"I'll try to get more information out of Dr. H the next time she makes contact," Kenny suggested. "It's not like we can do anything even if my line is jacked. Just speak to Wesker on my behalf. Right now we need to focus on getting the samples and making sure Leon and Ashley make it out of here in one piece."

"Then you're gonna wanna watch your back for Krauser," Ada said. "If my suspicions are right about him, having Leon and Ashley fall into Saddler's plans is exactly what he wants."

"No that can't be right," Kenny disagreed. "Why would Krauser want to ally himself with Saddler? He knows Saddler sees him as an intruder no matter. If we want to get out alive, we're gonna need to …"

"Speak for yourself, Junior," Ada interrupted. "Krauser may be a good soldier, but that's all he is to this mission – an expendable grunt. But those skills make him a problem. He acts like a Wesker's faithful little puppy but I can't shake the feeling that he's got an agenda of his own."

"Give me a break," Kenny sighed, "as if we came here to enjoy the scenery. We've all got our own agendas. Nobody would be stupid enough to step foot in this crazy countryside without a sizeable reward of some sort. I say we stick with each other, get this over and done with, and go home."

Ada had her mouth open, ready to say something until she heard Kenny's last line.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"I'd expected you to have quit this mission by now," she replied. "Of course, that would've have gotten you killed, but I'm still surprised … pleasantly. You sure know what to do to keep your head connected to your body. Suddenly it's not such a shock that you've survived Raccoon City."

"Raccoon was something else. This … I'm in way over my head in this. But Ada, we can't let anything happen to Leon or Ashley. It's my fault that Saddler has Ashley now, and Leon won't stop at anything to get her back. And if he goes after her, he'll be putting himself in that much more danger. And Ashley …"

"And how is it your fault?" Ada asked, intrigued by his claim.

Kenny slammed his mouth shut. He almost let it out that it was him who commanded the Novistadors to take Ashley, and his ability to communicate with them would surely tell Ada that he had a Plagas sample in him. Sure, he could've told her right now that he accomplished his mission and they could all go home, but he wasn't about to leave Ashley and Leon behind in this place.

"I … I was the one who told Salazar where they were headed," Kenny fibbed.

"And you did that knowing full well what would happen?"

"Yes." It hurt to lie about his own stupidity but Kenny could see how it would help.

"Leon's a capable soldier," Ada said, changing the subject back. "But I agree. He could use a little backup."

"Thanks," Kenny breathed a sigh of relief, thankful to have Ada on his side.

"Whatever Krauser's planning for those two, it's not in my best interest. I'll remind you again – forget about Ashley and Leon. I'll see to it that they suffer minimal damage. But you have a job to do."

"What about Krauser?"

"This is why your involvement will only complicate things. Not to mention that Krauser could very easily kill you. The sample is all we need from you. Now get out of the boat."

"And you?"

"I've got an errand to run. I'll find you when I get back."

Using the jagged rocks as a handhold, Kenny pulled himself out of the boat and onto the ledge as Krauser had, albeit a lot more clumsily. Even Ada had to hold back a snicker.

"Shut up," Kenny snapped, sensing what she was probably thinking. "I'm out of practice."

**XXXXX**

His first impression of the island's facilities weren't the greatest. Concrete slabs and scrapped metal looked super-glued together to form what could have served as fortresses, if only it didn't look like a sneeze could bring the whole establishment down. The buildings were erected with the surrounding rock formations in mind, parts of them using the impenetrable rock as a wall. Kenny entered the grounds, noticing that the Plagas possessed soldiers, although dressed in completely different garb, bore the same expressions as the monks at the castle; faint smiles on their faces, dark eyes and glowing irises. He approached them hesitantly at first, waiting to see if they were going to attack him. But they barely registered his presence until he got closer.

When he was mentally kicking himself for allowing himself to get so close, they did an astounding thing. The sea of soldiers parted, allowing him passage through their numbers. They didn't look at him, but towards their feet as he approached, with some kind of respect. Kenny's heart thumped as he headed towards the main building, probably a hundred yards away and closing. He had to fight his instincts to break into a run. The soldiers weren't doing anything except continuing to stand there staring at the ground. He reached for his gun just to be safe, in case they tried anything, though he didn't believe he'd be able to defend himself if they suddenly turned aggressive. But they never did.

He reached a large metal door carved right into the rock. A dark-skinned soldier with those same possessed eyes stood guard by the door. He hit a glowing button and the door slid sideways into the rock, leaving a trail of falling dust in its wake. Kenny struggled to see into the darkness beyond but sensed that same soldier behind him, urging him to go inside. He complied and walked into a tunnel lit by makeshift torches. The humid air stunk like dirt and sweat. The soldier who let him in took the lead and Kenny followed, allowing himself to be led to wherever they want to take him. He wasn't sure what he was doing at this point, or why he was allowing himself to be taken prisoner by these soldiers.

"To get to Ashley, of course," he told himself. That's right. That's why he was here. Kenny wanted to see Ashley. And the queen Plagas inside him was probably transmitting his thoughts to her underlings. He was impressed with how things were turning out. He never expected to have the embryo to work to his advantage.

Gradually, the tunnel ended and led him to a large concrete building surrounded by more jagged rock faces. Aside from the maintenance attention this one received, it was recognizably made of the same material as those ruins he saw out at the front. It was about three stories tall, perfectly box-like in shape with square windows cut into the walls, and could've put any architect to sleep with its design. The soldier took him inside and up the staircase that faced the entrance. The staircase spiraled, leading up further still until Kenny stood at the top in the middle of a corridor stretching left and right. The fluorescent lighting cast a bluish hue, through which Kenny could make out concrete walls and alien machinery lining them.

"Somebody help me!" he could hear Ashley crying from somewhere nearby. Her voice was hoarse and weak, but still desperate. How long had she been screaming for?

Kenny overstepped the soldier who led him here and headed straight for Ashley's voice. The soldier didn't seem to mind, showing no protest. Kenny didn't even look back over his shoulder to make sure the soldier wouldn't get hostile as he headed for Ashley. He paid no attention to his surroundings (everything looked the same to him here) and followed the twisting corridors until he had found a door with a small barred window at head height. Two big, armored guards, both of them taller by Kenny at least a head with considerably more bulk, stood guarding the door. He silently ordered them to move aside and they obeyed without fuss.

He opened the door, surprised to find out how heavy it was as he heaved it with his body weight, hearing it groan deeply beneath its own weight. The crying ceased immediately.

"Ashley," Kenny whispered. She didn't respond. "Don't worry, it's just me."

"Kenny?" she called softly. He rounded a corner and she leapt into him, throwing her arms around his waist, burying her face into his chest. Kenny pulled her into a hug and held her tightly. Neither of them said anything for a few seconds, taking comfort in each others' presence.

"Don't go off on your own," she pleaded. "Don't leave me anymore."

It felt like her words had reached into Kenny's chest and crushed his heart mercilessly with guilt. How was he supposed to tell her that he was the reason she was here?

"L…Leon will take care of you," he stammered. "I can't."

Kenny felt Ashley's grip around him loosen. She took a step away and looked him in the eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked.

With his shoulders slumped, arms hanging shamefully by his sides, Kenny said, "I have things to do."

Ashley reacted as he expected. She didn't say anything, just stood there opening and closing her mouth, trying to say something. But it looked like she didn't even know where to begin. Finally, she managed to choke something out.

"What do you mean, you have things to do? The only thing you have to do is get out of this place alive!"

"It's a little more complicated than that," Kenny said, "let's just leave it at that."

"How much more complicated can they …" Ashley started to say, but he cut her off.

"We need to get the Plagas out of your body. We can't have you return to the States with it inside you. Salazar told me there was some kind of machine that could be used to do it and I've got to find it!"

"Right," Ashley agreed, "but I don't see why you need to do things on your own all the time. We were both kidnapped from school. We're the ones who need help, and Leon's here to rescue both of us!"

"They took us for different reasons," Kenny explained. "You're being used as bait and I'm being recruited into their ranks. And they're using your well-being to tie my hands and force me into working with their agenda."

"So now it's my fault you're doing this?" Ashley asked.

"No, I didn't mean it that way," he insisted. "I just mean … that's why I can't help you. Leon. He's the only one who'll make everything okay again." He could see the light of hope in Ashley's eye dim a little with his words. Not knowing what else to say, he leaned against the wall of her cell and sat down while she remained standing.

"Leon's really the only one?" Ashley said, more to herself than to Kenny.

"I'll stay with you until he gets here. I need to find that machine that'll save you, and I can't do that dragging you all over this island with me. You'd better stay with Leon."

"Are you sure this machine actually exists? I've met Salazar and I wouldn't trust him with my phone number."

"I have ways of finding out."

"Then I think you'd better find out as soon as possible," Ashley said. "These Plagas are in a real rush to turn us into those crazy villagers. And I won't mind being left alone for awhile again if it means I get to keep my humanity."

"No, that can wait. I need to speak with Leon first. I need to warn him that …" Kenny stopped, not wanting to finish his sentence.

"Go on," Ashley said, urging him to continue.

"Nothing you need to worry about."

"Actually Kenny, you just told me Leon's the only person who can fix this bullshit. So if he is in any sort of danger, it is something I have to worry about! So tell me!"

"Or you could just tell me to my face," a voice called from cell entrance.

"Leon!" Kenny and Ashley cried in unison. They ran to him like a young pair of children to an older sibling, and Leon, with arms wide, embraced them both.

"You kids okay?" he asked. Ashley nodded, a wide smile spreading on her face. "C'mon, let's get out of here. You planning on sticking around with us, Kenny?"

"Some real shit is hitting the fan, Leon," Kenny explained. "I've got a hell of a lot to tell you."

"Alright then, out with it," Leon said.

"Not with Ashley here."

"Kenny!" she protested.

"I mean it," Kenny pressed. "Leon, its for your ears only. It doesn't involve her."

"Then wait here, Ash," Leon advised her. "Kenny, let's take this outside."

**XXXXX**

The door clanged shut, separating Kenny and Leon from Ashley, who waited angrily inside for them to finish. She didn't like being left out, but Kenny thought it'd be best if she stayed out of whatever she wasn't involved in, and going by how quickly Leon agreed, Kenny supposed that he probably agreed.

"I want to hear everything," Leon said, cutting right to the chase.

"Look, I'm pretty much in the dark when it comes to the goings-on of this mission," Kenny admitted, "but I know when something's not right. Leon, you've got to watch your back."

"This is the big news you have to tell me?" he asked, smirking slightly. "That's all I've been doing since I got here."

"I think there's another attack planned for you in the works. But it's not Saddler." Leon's face lost its smile. "There's this crazy guy – his name's Krauser. Wesker sent him after me, to pull me into this crazy mission."

"And Ada too, huh?"

"The three of us are working in tandem, under the guise that we're here to take the sample and kill anyone who tries to stop us, including you. Of course, knowing us, everyone's got their own ideas besides sticking to the plan."

"And the three of you openly discussed this?" Leon asked.

Kenny shook his head. "No, but it's not hard to figure out there are other plans cooking besides Wesker's orders. But listen, Krauser's expressed particular interest in destroying you, while leaving Ada and I to get the sample. You've got to watch out for him. I know you're a good fighter, Leon, I've seen you take out armies of possessed villagers, castle monks, what have you. But Krauser is no ordinary lackey. This guy's a hardcore soldier. We're talking commando-type. The way he fights, the way he kills – he does it so nonchalantly it's scary!"

"I glazed over it when you first mentioned his name," Leon said, "but now I've got to ask – this Krauser guy … older man, built like a tank?"

Kenny nodded excitedly. "Yeah, that's the guy. See this bruise?" He pointed to the darkening mark under his right eye. "Krauser gave me that."

"If he was serious, he would've given you a lot more," Leon replied. "But no … that can't be."

"I'm serious. I wouldn't lie about something like this."

"No, I know you're telling the truth. It's just impossible that Krauser could be here."

"Why?"

"He died for years ago in a helicopter crash."

Kenny could feel the blood chill in his veins. He wouldn't lie to Leon, but he also knew Leon wouldn't lie to him, at least not in a time like this. But it didn't make sense. Kenny briefly got the idea that the man who brought him here was a ghost, which made the hair on his arms and neck rise on end. At a point in his life, he would've said he didn't believe in ghosts. But up until September 1998, he didn't believe in zombies either.

"If it's the same Krauser we're talking about, then I can tell you the guy did not die."

"It's possible," Leon conceded, "after all I thought Ada was dead too."

"That's what I mean, Leon. Then you know what Krauser is capable of doing. You've got to be careful!"

"This doesn't really make things any easier, does it?" Leon said, rubbing his eyes with one hand.

"Well there is a piece of good news I have at least," Kenny offered. "It's got to do with the Plagas. Salazar told me there was a machine that could eliminate the embryos before they can mature. Which means infected people can be saved from the parasites, but only before the parasites mature. I know Ashley's got the creature in her, so we have to find that machine …"

"It'd be great if such a machine existed, but I've got something to ask you, Kenny. How do you know Salazar wasn't lying to you? Better yet, why would he mention something like that to you in the first place?"

"He was trying to reassure me that it'd be alright when they injected me with the … uh …" Kenny stopped talking. He noticed Leon's eyes widening with shock.

"You're infected …" Leon whispered. It was all he could muster after the shock took all the energy out of him.

"Yes … but no …"

"Kenny, you need to take one of these." Leon produced a capped vile from one of his many pockets and poured out a single white pill. "These will slow down the growth of the parasite."

"No, it's okay, really," Kenny said, refusing it. "I've got a natural defense against those things. That's why Wesker wanted me on this mission as well, knowing I'm immune to them."

"How can that be?"

"The Shadow Technology that Umbrella purchased is embedded into me. It's protecting me from the parasite. It can still live inside me, but that's all it can do. The Technology is an agent against physical damage."

"Are you sure the parasite won't find a way to get around it?"

"I have a feeling it won't," Kenny replied with finality. He didn't know how he could've been so sure, but a part of him just knew. Leon decided not to argue. "Anyway, we need to find Salazar, and get him to tell us where that machine is …"

"I killed him," Leon said.

Kenny's mouth froze open, in mid sentence. "C…come again?"

"I killed him," Leon repeated, quieter this time. "I didn't know there was any machine. I wasn't thinking immediately about how to get the Plagas out. I was just trying to reclaim Ashley."

"Well, you've wasted your time," Kenny said. "Apparently Saddler was planning to have her return to America anyway – with the Plagas in her body. He wanted to infect the entire country starting with the parasite in Ashley."

"Where did you hear this?"

"Krauser said so."

"And he's in the loop with Saddler now?"

"He brags about it, but nobody's sure just how much Saddler's letting on. He might be planning a lot more. We just don't know. Like I said, we're only here to get the Plagas sample."

"Well if Saddler gets his way," Leon said bitterly, "you won't have any trouble finding a sample in the United States. Hell, the infection could even spread to Umbrella and effectively wipe them out too. Kenny, I need you to help me out on the other side."

"I'm sorry Leon, I can't," Kenny said regretfully. As much as we wanted to work alongside Leon and help both him and Ashley get out of this possessed countryside in one piece, Kenny knew it wasn't possible to pretend to side with the enemy and not pose a threat to his friends at the same time. 'Pretending' to side with Ada and Krauser had only put Ashley in danger, and he wasn't yet ready to admit to Leon that it was because of him that Ashley got taken away a second time. So he planned to right his wrong a different way – by leaving them alone and limiting their exposure to the danger his mere presence posed.

"Don't be ridiculous, Kenny," Leon said, but the youth was firm in his decision.

"You and Ashley are on your own," he restated. "I have some things to take care of over on my end."

"You're leaving behind your civilian life," Leon reminded him, "the life you worked so hard to earn after Raccoon City. And think about what you're exchanging it for – a life with Umbrella!"

"Never," Kenny insisted. "I just need to finish tying up some loose ends before I can call it quits. I'm doing what I should have done in the first place – let you take care of Ashley. You're more capable of doing that than I could …" Without warning, Kenny suddenly felt tears welling up in his eyes. He heard his voice crack. "I just need to save my own ass, really."

"Kenny, this is stupid …"

"It's my fault," Kenny whispered so quietly, Leon wasn't sure he heard properly.

"I don't understand." It summed up what Leon was thinking pretty well, but did nothing to verbalize the bewilderment he was feeling.

"I was the one who took her away from you the last time," Kenny admitted shamefully. The tears of guilt were falling again, and Kenny began to feel a twinge of frustration at himself, wondering how many times he could cry like a girl and not take responsibility for his actions. In every right, Leon should have killed him by now for his betrayal but yet, he was still standing on his own two feet. "Those creatures that came and took her … I ordered them to recapture Ashley. Salazar told me to do it and injected me with a queen Plagas parasite just for that purpose. That's why I'm walking around with it now. That's why I think the machine exists, because they wouldn't want me walking around carrying their precious Plagas."

Kenny expected Leon to start on an angry tirade. He didn't plan on spilling everything to Leon and in the last few minutes, he had done just that, letting his guilty conscience do all the talking so at the very least, if he was to be killed, there would be no secrets to keep in his final minutes. But Leon didn't say anything. He stood silently, fingers rubbing his chin in thought. And whatever Leon was thinking, he seemed to be liking the conclusion he was reaching. The corners of his mouth tilted slightly into a smile.

"You ordered those things to capture Ashley?" he asked.

"Yes …" Kenny squeaked.

"And you were able to do that because you're hosting a Queen?"

"Yes."

"I know I sound crazy," Leon said, "but I'd like to ask a favor of you."

"Name it," Kenny replied, a little confused that Leon responded to his confession so positively.

"Can you order the Plagas inside me and Ashley to … I don't know … keep us safe?"

"I'm not sure," Kenny said. "I sort of assumed it was against the Plagas nature to look out for themselves. I always thought they were like an ant colony, working together as one, going by the way the Ganados and the Illuminados worked together. Your parasites might not even understand my command. Or if they do, they might try to take over your bodies to obey that command."

"Then order them to slow down," Leon said. "Up to this point, Ashley and I have been taking these pills," he held up the capsule, "to slow the growth of the parasites. If you can slow them down without us having to take these, it might buy us more time until we can find that machine."

"It just might work," Kenny said, eyes beaming with hope. "Let me try."

Leon stepped back, giving Kenny some room, while the youth let his arms hang limp at his sides, focusing all his attention on the two closest parasites - in Leon and Ashley's bodies, and coaxed them to slow their growth. Neither of the parasites responded, as the Novistadors had, but that didn't mean they didn't hear his order. Come to think of it, this was the first time he tried commanding Plagas embryos, not fully developed creatures, so it was possible they didn't understand him yet. Or maybe they just had a different way of showing they understood …

"Did it work?" Leon asked.

"I'm not sure. I'm not familiar enough with this … power. I did what I could."

"I know." Leon rested a hand on his shoulder. "I believe you, Kenny. Thank you."

"You're welcome." He didn't know what else to say. "… So … anyway, I have to get going."

"Stay with us," Leon said. "Don't go running off on your own anymore. We'll fight the Plagas and Saddler together. We'll protect Ashley together."

Kenny was tempted to say yes. But he couldn't just go off with Ashley and Leon with the Plagas sample still inside him. He knew Wesker would hunt him to the ends of the earth to get it and if Ada managed to get her hands on another sample, he doubted she would send it to him either. If Kenny was to leave this island, he wanted everything he accomplished washed off his hands. He didn't need to give them another reason to chase him down. And Dr. H … whoever she was, whatever company she worked for, Kenny didn't want to risk having them on his case either. He had no choice. He had to get rid of the Queen if it meant delivering it to Wesker himself, or using the machine to kill it.

"I can't …" Kenny said regretfully. "I would. But … it's just not an option for me right now. Like I said, there are things I have to take care of."

"This is a decision you're going to regret, Kenny," Leon urged.

"I really don't think it is."

Leon watched Kenny turn his back on him, and walk slowly out of the room. He pulled the door open, stepped through, and before he could close it behind him, Leon spoke.

"Kenny," Leon called after him.

The youth looked over his shoulder to face Leon. "I said it before. It's better this way.

Kenny gave a weak smile and closed the door behind him. Though he was compelled to, Leon did not follow Kenny. He didn't understand what was going through the kid's head, what could have possibly happened for Kenny to nearly break down in front of him again, but Leon recognized that look of resolution in his eyes. Leon sensed that the youth was speaking from his heart, and he could remember not long ago, Leon himself had been through the same thing just after escaping Raccoon City when he was exactly the same age Kenny was now. And Leon wasn't about to take that away from him.


	16. Chapter 12: The Assassin

It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off Kenny's shoulders. Things were well on their way to getting fixed and Kenny was going to see it through. The first order of business had been taken care of – leave Ashley in Leon's capable hands and stop interfering with the two of them. Leon had invited him to join him and Ashley so that the three of them could make it off the island together, but it wasn't as easy as that … not with a Plagas Queen still in his body that had to be delivered to those who assigned him to this mission.

Kenny's transmitter beeped. It was likely Dr. H, wanting an update on his progress. Remembering what he had told Ada earlier, he realized this was his chance to find out more about the mysterious Doctor, how she had managed to hijack the transmission to his transmitter, and what her motives were. He loosened the device from his belt buckle and turned it on, seeing Dr. H's face fill up the screen.

"Report, Rockfort," she ordered with a stern tone and an equally stern look on her mousy features. Kenny had to smirk at her act.

"Game's over," he said. "I want to know who you are, and what you want with me and the Plagas sample."

"This isn't funny, Rockfort," Dr. H countered. "You are on a crucial mission for Umbrella and we want to know your progress …"

"I'm sure Wesker would be happy to fill you in. Oh wait, he hasn't been able to get in touch with me. I wonder why."

Dr. H's face wore a look of alarm but only for a brief moment. "We have been in touch with Captain Wesker on your behalf, Agent."

"That's why he's had to contact me through Ada, huh?" Kenny asked. "Look, Doctor, I refuse to give you anymore information or the Plagas sample until you show some proof of your affiliation with Captain Wesker or Umbrella. I realize this is an important classified mission I'm on, and though I should have done it sooner, I'm going to have to ask for some clarification as to who you are before I can continue reporting to you."

"I ..." Dr. H stammered, trying to get something out, but all she could voice was a string of incomprehensible rambles.

When she could produce nothing that satisfied Kenny, he continued. "That answers my question. I want to know who you are and how you were able to interfere with my transmissions to Wesker."

Dr. H began to say something but was rudely shoved out of view by another figure, also a woman, with bright red hair tied into a ponytail. This new character had rougher features, tired bags under bright green eyes that looked vaguely familiar to Kenny.

"You've found us out," the woman said, talking urgently into the headset that she'd managed to wrestle out of Dr. H's grasp. "No more secrets."

"Who in the world …" Kenny began to say, but he couldn't quite understand what was going on.

"We're not Umbrella," the woman explained, "as you might have already figured out. In fact, we are anti-Umbrella – a group of … professionals, dedicated to making sure the organization stays defunct. But we've received information recently that leads us to believe Umbrella is anything but. And your service on this mission, your transmissions to us is proof of that."

Kenny began to feel regret and despair rising in his throat. So it was true – he had been communicating with a group of people who he believed to be Umbrella. What would Krauser do to him if he found out? What would Wesker do? Especially now that he had the sample they were here to snatch?

"What do you want with me?" Kenny asked. Now that he knew their true identity – or at least, their affiliation – he began cursing these mysterious women for choosing to involve themselves in this, as if his situation wasn't complicated enough.

"We need the sample, Kenny," the woman with red hair said urgently.

"And what makes you think I'll give it to you?!"

"Because …"

"You've got a lot of balls interfering with Umbrella's interests – let alone ordering ME to do your bidding! As soon as my superiors get word of this series of transmissions we've been having, they'll track you down and …"

"Kenny, NO!" the woman cried. She was getting visibly upset, as if his words were hurting her. Krauser and Ada were among the most efficient, cold hearted people he had ever dealt with and this kind of sensitive reaction to his words caught him off guard.

"I'm sorry …" he began to say, and then reminded himself that if he was to successfully complete this mission with his head on his shoulders, he would have to begin acting like the calculating agents that Krauser and Ada were.

"This isn't who you are!" the redheaded woman insisted. She had composed herself somewhat, but still spoke to him in a tone laced with disappointment. "What … what happened to you?"

"… Do I know you?" Kenny asked, studying the lady's features carefully. After all, her eyes looked vaguely familiar and there was a very good chance he would recognize her further with continued observation.

"What happened to the little boy who used to volunteer at the Raccoon City precinct, who performed the most mundane tasks the officers would dump on him with such enthusiasm?" The woman ran her hands through her hair and held herself by the shoulders. "What kind of person has he become?"

The guilt that Kenny felt when he realized he'd captured Ashley and sent her to her doom was nothing compared to what he felt at this moment. If that guilt had taken his heart in its cold, nasty hands and crushed it mercilessly, this new one tore it out of his chest, still beating, stepped on it with its full weight and fried it with a blowtorch. He realized instantly who this woman was – one of the only officers at the precinct who treated him like a person with real hopes and dreams, not a kid trying to fulfill some kind of childish fantasy about being a cop. He thought she perished along with the rest of Raccoon City but here she was, behind this tiny monitor embedded into the palm sized transmitter given to him by another Umbrella Agent. Her last memories of him were true to what Kenny was six years ago. And now, so many years later, she had seen him at his worst …

"Lieutenant Bernstein …" Kenny gasped at the screen. "A … Amber …" His voice shook and a few seconds later, his body joined it. Continuing to hold the transmitter to his face, Kenny sat on the ground, right where he stood and spoke into the screen. "I … I'm sorry you had to see me like this. I thought you were dead."

Lieutenant Amber Bernstein held the back of her hand to her nose and sniffed, holding back an emotional sob. "This isn't the time for hellos," she said. "We've got a lot to catch up on. But business first. The reason we've been wanting a sample of the Las Plagas embryo is because we've gotten word that Umbrella is after the same thing. If we are to fight them we will need a sample in our possession as well. That's why we had to get you to do the dirty work for us. We knew Umbrella had a small team of Agents on the job under Wesker's command so we did background checks on who the agents were. Unfortunately, we were unable to find much information but going by what we had, we chose you. But I had no idea it was … YOU."

"Yes," Kenny said so strongly that it had startled her. "Yes, I will give you the sample, as soon as I can get it out of me."

"A simple operation should do the trick," Amber continued. "After all, the Shadow Technology inside you should have prevented the Queen from assaulting your body in any way. Christ, Kenny, I had no idea the agent with the technology inside them was …"

"Yeah, it's me," he replied. "I'm ready to get out of here, then. I've done what I've needed to do. Just get me the hell out of here, take the sample from me and I'll be more than happy to going back to whatever I was doing. But … you're gonna have to take the fall for me if Umbrella chooses to pursue me."

"That's why we were established," Amber said. "We all have our own personal vendettas against that corporation. Don't worry, Kenny. The moment we get our hands on you, I promise Umbrella won't ever be able to lay a finger on you, or anyone else again. I promise."

"I believe you. Just, please … come get me."

"According to the few satellite images of the island we've managed to get our hands on, there should be some kind of control tower within a mile of your current location," Amber explained. "I want you to head there, and send a distress call. Our chopper will be able to read that transmission and zero in on you."

"Why can't you just use the signal from my transmitter right now?"

"Because we're jacking the line, there's a chance the information you're sending off could be corrupted. The information about the control tower in relation to where you are could be wrong as well. That's a risk we're going to have to take but once you find the tower and send the distress call, your location will be set in stone and we will send a chopper after you."

"How long will it take for you to get here?" Kenny asked excitedly. His ordeal was coming to an end a lot sooner than he had envisioned. This was the best bit of news he had heard in a long time.

"Approximately 2 hours."

"Where are you?"

"I can't tell you that, as much as I would like to. Just hurry to the control tower and send a distress call as soon as you can. We'll be waiting until then."

"Okay, Amber. I'm on my way. I'll talk to you soon."

"Kenny?" she called out just as he was about to hang up. "It's good to see you again."

He smiled at her. "Back at you."

**XXXXX**

It turned out the information Amber had given Kenny was right. It took a little bit of navigation through the military compound with the aid of a couple of soldiers at his request, but he had finally found the control tower. It had taken him a good couple of minutes to scale the ladder that led to the very top. There was nothing to prevent a fatal fall if he were to slip on the metal rungs of the ladder that led all the way up. And his fear of heights didn't do anything to alleviate his worries. When he was about halfway up, Kenny looked into the distance and spotted the rocky shores of the island, waves crashing against them with the force of a truck. The wind was stronger up here, sending his clothes and hair into ripples. He could barely keep his eyes open against the sting of the salty air. And then he did the stupidest thing he could ever do in a spot like this – he looked down.

Instantly, he began to feel dizzy. His vision blurred. He grasped the rungs tighter and pulled his body up, keeping his eyes closed the whole way as he fought off the nausea. He cursed himself for looking down so early for he was only halfway up the ladder. He continued to climb, trying his hardest to ignore the realization of just how far he was off the ground.

When he finally reached the top, Kenny scrambled onto the balcony, pulling himself with every ounce of strength his arms and legs could muster, rolling onto the platform, well away from the edge. He took a second to gather himself from the terrifying climb, breathing in and out at the pace his body demanded. Slowly, Kenny got to his feet and headed for the door to the control tower on the opposite side of the structure, holding onto the walls the whole way. When he finally reached the door, he grasped the handle roughly, turned it, and put the full force of his body behind the door, charging into the room.

He found Krauser standing inside by the control panel, tossing a knife toward the ceiling, catching it handle first in his palm. Ada stood leaning on the opposite wall with her arms folded, looking down at her feet. They both stopped mid-conversation to see Kenny, pale, out of breath and sweaty.

"Nice of you to join us," Ada said. "What happened to you?"

Kenny wasn't expecting them both to be here, and the discovery worried him. What were they discussing behind his back?

"I don't like heights," he replied, earning him a snort from Krauser.

"What's the news on our friend Leon?" Krauser asked Ada, ignoring Kenny.

"He's not making it easy," she said. "And the sample?"

"Saddler's got it," Krauser replied. "It seems he sniffed out our little game."

"Perfect," Ada said so quietly, turning her back to him.

"Just so we understand each other clearly," Krauser continued, his tone becoming more menacing with every word, "I don't trust you. Nor does Wesker. If you try to do anything clever … " he held up a knife towards her. If Ada noticed, she didn't act threatened. "I will kill you."

"Is that so?" Ada asked, her eyes narrowing like a cat readying itself for the kill. The tension in the room was so thick, you could cut it with a knife. Any worries Kenny had about what they'd been discussing immediately dissolved. It seemed like he had walked in on an argument between the two of them. "You know, I met Wesker long before you."

"We'll see soon enough if you did."

"Yeah, we'll see …" Ada said with finality. She headed for the door, brushing by Kenny without a word, and slammed it shut behind her.

Krauser snorted behind her back, turning his attention to Kenny. "What are you doing here, Squirt? Shouldn't you be hunting down the sample?"

"I'm …" Kenny began thinking quickly of an explanation. "I … I noticed this place was pretty high up. I wanted a good view of the compound to see where the sample could be located … SHIT!!" Kenny ducked after spotting a flash of silver in the air between him and Krauser. The knife Krauser once held in his had was now embedded in the wall behind him, at eye level, right where he had been standing. A few strands of Kenny's hair floated towards the floor, sliced off clean by the blade.

"I sent out a message to Ada to meet mere here," Krauser explained. "The message should've reached your transmitter too. Of course, we know for some reason, yours isn't working, so I find it odd that you showed up only a few seconds too late."

Krauser dashed at Kenny, right hand bared into a bricklike fist. Just before reaching the youth, Krauser twisted his body and threw a hard punch. Kenny slapped his fist away and dodged to his left, rolling on the floor to put some distance between himself and the crazed soldier. Krauser turned around to face him and continue the attack when his transmitter rang. He picked it up, keeping his eyes trained on Kenny in case the youth tried anything funny.

"Krauser here."

"Seems like Leon's turning into more of a pest than I imagined," Wesker said from the other end. Kenny recognized Wesker's cold, reptilian voice well. "I'm going to need him taken care of."

"With pleasure," Krauser growled.

"Don't worry about the sample. I've got Ada covering it. And Kenneth, too … that is, if you and Ada are keeping him in check as I ordered."

"Well I got some news for you, Wesker," Krauser continued, his eyes darting between his transmitter screen and Kenny, who stood by the far wall from him. "The brat's not co-operating. He managed to jam the signal to his transmitter somehow and I just caught him in the act of making a distress call in the control tower."

"Pity," Wesker said without a trace of emotion in his voice. "You haven't seriously damaged him?"

"Not yet."

"Incapacitate him, then. But I will need him alive."

"Yes, sir."

"And Krauser, as soon as you are finished with Kenneth, your next objective will be to eliminate Leon. As I have said, it is now Ada's responsibility to get the sample."

"Got it. Over and out." Krauser shut off the transmitter and returned his full attention to Kenny, who now stood before him shaking with fear or adrenaline – he couldn't tell. "You just used up your last chance. Say goodnight."

Krauser pulled his knife from the wall and came at Kenny again, thrusting the knife forward. The youth parried again, jumped over a low slash, ducked under a high one. Before Krauser could return the weapon close to his body to set up for a third slash, Kenny head-butted the soldier in the face, seized his wrist and kicked the weapon out of hit. The blade flew out of Krauser's hand and clattered to the floor, skidding with momentum towards the door. Still with Krauser's wrist in his hand, Kenny brought is elbow down onto the crook of Krauser's arm, causing the soldier to cry out in pain. He released the wrist and followed up with an elbow to the face. Krauser reeled back in pain, clutching at his face, blood seeping through the fingers of his hand.  

"I'm through taking your orders," Kenny said. "I finished being beaten around by you. You brought me here on a mission and I intend to accomplish that mission my way!"

Krauser retaliated with a vicious uppercut connecting with Kenny's jaw. The force of it picked Kenny clean off the ground and sent his body flying backwards in a graceful arc. He recovered midair, tucked his knees into his chest and performed a back flip and landed into a crouch, kicking his right leg out that swept Krauser off his feet. Pulling the handgun that Krauser initially gave him from his waistband, Kenny fired a round without missing a beat as Krauser was getting to his feet. A normal person would've taken the bullet. But Krauser's body disappeared in a blur and appeared right beside him. Kenny's free arm was seized, so he brought the other around with the weight of the gun in his fist and attempted to clock Krauser on the side of the head with it, but the soldier grabbed that hand too. Giving Kenny's hand a savage squeeze, he forced the youth to drop the gun, and brought a savage knee to his solar plexus, knocking the wind out of Kenny. He fell to the ground, clutching his body, gasping for air while Krauser stood victorious over him.

"Wesker gave me orders to bring you in alive," Krauser said, "but you are making that real difficult." Sometime while Kenny was busy gasping for air, Krauser had retrieved his knife, as he now had it in his hand, tossing it casually up into the air, only to catch it handle first in his open palm. "You were nothing but a liability to this mission from the start, what with your affiliation to the president's daughter and all. Wesker wouldn't mind seeing your body in a bag after I give him my report on you."

Krauser leapt down onto Kenny, blade first for what was meant to be a fatal stab. But before the knife could make contact with his chest, it was knocked out of Krauser's hand for the second time in five minutes, this time by a thrown axe. The two weapons tucked themselves away in a corner of the room and Krauser looked towards the door to see who had dared to intrude on his assassination. Kenny took advantage of his distraction and kicked Krauser in the head, flooring the larger man in an instant, giving him time to get up to his feet. Krauser groggily picked himself up off the ground and found himself standing between Kenny and a group of the island's Plagas possessed military.

"What is this?" he demanded.

"I forgot to tell you," Kenny replied, "I got the sample. It's a Queen. And it's inside me."

Krauser gawked at him, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. "You little fucking twerp …"

"Like I said, I'm going to accomplish this mission my way."

Before he could say anything more, Krauser jumped out through one of the control tower's windows. He cleared the outdoor balcony and fell the full height of the tower. But Kenny had a feeling the fall wouldn't kill him. There was something wrong with Krauser, how he was able to dodge Kenny's bullet with superhuman speed. Just to be sure, Kenny ran to the edge of the balcony, grasping the railing tightly the moment he felt that familiar wave of nausea looking down that far, and sure enough, he spotted Krauser running towards the military compound. Running towards …

What was that Krauser had said to Wesker? When he was done with Kenny, he was going after …

"Leon!"

Kenny turned to the Ganados who were already leaving the room, some of them climbing down the ladder in pursuit of Krauser, urgently ordering them to stop him from getting to Leon. Realizing where Krauser was headed too little too late, and the fact that he'd been overpowered mere minutes ago, Kenny realized there was no way he could have physically stopped Krauser. But he hoped the Ganados would be able to delay him. 


End file.
